Rs.1.5mn worth of Beedi confiscated

8 May 2013 07:27 am

Nearly 1000 Kilograms of tobacco and a stock of Beedi all worth some Rs.1.5 million were taken into custody by the Matale Excise Department yesterday during a raid on a Beedi manufacturing centre in Galewela.

Excise officers had arrested three people including the person who owned the manufacturing centre, which was being operated without a valid permit.
They alleged that well-known trade names had been pasted on the Beedi wrappings and that the tobacco was mixed with saw dust in the manufacture of the Beedies. (News and pix by Mahesh Keerthirathne)