Customs bust largest entrepot fag deal in history

 PIC BY NIMALSIRI EDIRISINGHE

• 21 containers of counterfeit cigarettes worth Rs.9.7 billion seized  
• Authorities suspect contraband from UAE meant for Netherlands leaked out in SL 

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

Sri Lanka Customs for the first time in history busted a major racket of smuggling 21 containers of counterfeit cigarettes, which arrived in the Colombo Port as part of entrepot trade from UAE to Netherlands worth over Rs.9.7 billion. 

Officials of the Customs Compliance and Facilitation Division following a lengthy probe unearthed an attempt by a local businessman, who operated in the guise of a tea trader engaged in transshipments between the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands.   

According to Customs Spokesperson Deputy Director Sudaththa Silva the officials at the Colombo Port had seized 21 suspicious containers that had arrived from the UAE during the past couple of weeks, which contained large stocks of several foreign brands of cigarettes.   

Customs Chief Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Vijitha Ravipriya and a host of top officials witnessed how the contraband was unloaded from several containers yesterday at the Rank Container Terminal (RCT) in Orugodawatta.   
Preliminary investigations had revealed that nine out of the 21 containers, which had already been opened and checked, had contained 200 million sticks of cigarettes worth of Rs.9.7 billion.   

A senior detective at the Customs Compliance and Facilitation Division told the Daily Mirror that the local exporter had received the contraband from another Sri Lankan living in Dubai and it is suspicious whether the cargo was actually meant for the Netherlands.   

Since the nature of the entrepot trade is to unload whatever the cargo being received in one particular port and reload them into a different container before being sent to another port of destination, it is highly doubted whether the contraband had leaked into the country under the noses of the authorities, the sources said.   
Customs Director Harsha Jayathilaka and Deputy Directors Dappula Arewatta with Wijeratne Bandara are conducting investigations with the team of Customs Superintendents Sanjaya Ravindra, Lal Weerakoon, U. D. M. O. Deepani, Deputy Superintendent Manjula Prasad, Assistant Superintendent Praveen Indranama, Amila Sanjeewa, Sammana Samarasekara, Bathiya Kumarasiri, S. Maddumage and Avindu Rajapaksa.   
The Customs officials are continuing the search of the goods that had been sent in the rest of the containers. 

pic by nimalsiri edirisinghe