Do not fall prey to automobile smugglers: Customs warn public

Do not fall prey to automobile smugglers and lose both wealth and the car, when vehicle imports are still strictly banned in the country! Sri Lanka Customs warned the public yesterday.

A senior Customs ocial told the Daily Mirror a trend is being observed about dismantled luxury and expensive cars being shipped into the country in the recent past where the smugglers attempt to clear them through the authorities by various ways and means.

Customs Revenue Task Force (RTF) foiled several attempts to import expensive cars dismantled and packed inside containers without declaring to the Customs.

The latest such attempt was thwarted yesterday when the ocials of the Customs RTF seized a reconditioned Toyota Prius in full body shell form packed inside a 40-foot container that arrived from Japan.

The container which had arrived at the Colombo Port in early November was detained by the Customs on suspicion and remained until the consignee turned up to clear the goods. Since
the importer didn’t turn up on time, the authorities summoned him and opened the container to nd the illegal goods yesterday.

Director Customs RTF Thilak Suraweera said they have seized a Mercedes Benz, a BMW and several hybrid cars in the last couple of months that had arrived in containers defying regulations of both the Customs Ordinance and the Import and Export Control licence.

The government ban imposed on vehicle imports since 2020 is still eective and all sorts of vehicle imports (except for the exemption on certain essential vehicle classes) or brought in sans declaring to the Customs is a punishable oence.

“The public is prone to purchase imported vehicles for relatively cheaper rates and usually imported vehicles come with cheaper rates as they were smuggled into the country.

Pix by Nisal Baduge