Recovery of Rs.480Mn worth smuggled fags Customs launch intense probe

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

Sri Lanka Customs has launched an intense investigation into the recovery of a massive stock of counterfeit cigarettes worth over Rs.487 million, which had been smuggled into the country falsely declared as fabric material.   

Officials attached to the Customs Revenue Task Force (RTF) at Orugodawatta RCT Yard following a preliminary inquiry seized a container load of counterfeit cigarettes last week, which had been imported under false documents.   

According to Customs Spokesman Deputy Director Sudaththa Silva the contraband had been declared as 266 reels of fabric material but the officials have seized about 3 million sticks of a foreign brand of cigarettes concealed within them.   

Had the smuggled cigarettes been released undetected a loss of Rs.404 million would have been incurred to the government as tax revenue, he said.   

The Customs RTF officials are presently conducting a in depth probe into the case to determine the organized syndicate behind this major attempt of importing counterfeit cigarettes into the country.