RS.6.6 MN WORTH DUBAI FAGS SEIZED FROM UPB WAREHOUSE

Alarge stock of illicit cigarettes worth over Rs.6.6 million which had been smuggled into the country through two heavy Unaccompanied Personal Baggages (UPBS) was seized by the Customs officials at a private warehouse in Wattala last week.

The UPB, which is a large metal box shipped into the country from a sender in Dubai contained the stock of foreign made cigarettes carefully concealed under a false bottom filled with a variety of unimportant cheap goods.

Acting Customs Spokesman Deputy Director Vipula Minuwanpitiya told the Daily Mirror that one UPB had 277 cartons containing 55,400 sticks of cigarettes worth of Rs.2,770,000 whilst the other box contained 385 cartons containing 77,000 sticks worth around Rs.3,850,000.

Altogether, 132,400 sticks of illicit cigarettes of two Dubai manufactured brands were seized amounting to a value of Rs.6, 620,000.

According to DDC Minuwanpitiya, the UPBS had arrived in the country sometime back and had been lying at the warehouse for close to about one year as no owner had come to claim it.

The Customs official suspect since attempts being made by the owners of the contraband had failed to sneak the boxes out of the warehouse under the nose of the authorities had led them to give up on the goods afterwards.

It is the usual practice when such boxes are sent to a local addressee the Customs search them prior to being released to the person who comes to claim the goods.

When nobody came to claim the goods that had been idling for an year, the Customs decided to break them open and search.

Customs inquiry is being conducted by Deputy Director in charge of warehouse Tissa Priyantha de Silva and his team on the instructions of Additional Director General of Customs Stanley Senarathne and Customs Director (Passenger Services) T Ravindra Raja.

Altogether, 132,400 sticks of illicit cigarettes of two Dubai manufactured brands were seized amounting to a value of Rs.6, 620,000