MAKES OVER 400 DETECTIONS countrywide during Vesak

Excise Department

The Excise Department made more than 400 successful detections countrywide during the Vesak Full Moon Poya Day and the Day Following Vesak and arrested 340 people on charges of committing crimes related to illicit liquor and tobacco.

The department launched a special programme this year on Vesak Poya and the day after which were declared by the government as dry days.

Excise Spokesman and Deputy Commissioner, Kapila Kumarasinghe told Daily Mirror the department’s branch offices in the provinces and in the metropolitan area carried out more than 500 raids and detected 402 instances of wrongdoing.

Among the main offences were 107 cases of manufacturing and sale of ‘kasippu’, 195 cases of possessing licensed spirits above the permitted quota to be sold during the dry days. Also, 38 narcotics cases of possession and sale of heroin and ganja.

Among the detection were 62 cases related to NATA Act (National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol) including 10 instances of smoking in public places. Concerning the detections in the provinces, Mr. Kumarasinghe said that there was a considerable reduction in the cases reported from the North, East and the North Central Provinces, whereas the statistics showed the usual figures in the other provinces.

He specially thanked the public as most of the detections were conducted on the information received from them.