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Probe on rotten potato mystery
A mystery over how and why 25,000 kilograms of potatoes, declared unfit for human consumption, ended up in an abandoned rice mill in Dambulla, is being probed by the Customs, a top official said yesterday.
He said Customs Director General Jagath P. Wijeweera had ordered the probe on how the huge stock of rotten potatoes which he had wanted destroyed under Customs supervision had ended up in the rice mill. He said an inquiry was under way to ascertain why Customs officers had not followed the Director General’s orders.
Suspicion over the consignment of rotten potatoes had arisen in view of two previous detections of potatoes from Pakistan. In one instance, Customs found a large quantity of heroin — referred to in the drugs trade as Brown Sugar — concealed in the potatoes. In another instance, drugs used for abortions were found hidden in a stock of potatoes.
The Customs official said the probe would, among other matters, determine whether the latest shipment of rotten potatoes was a ruse. They want to ascertain whether the consignment was allowed to become stale in the belief that it would be condemned by the Customs. These sources said thereafter, the stocks together with contraband or drugs concealed in the rotten potatoes could have been smuggled out.
The mystery of the rotten potatoes came to light after villagers around the abandoned rice mill complained to the Consumer Affairs Authority officials in Matale. They complained of an unbearable stench. When CAA officers visited the area, they found workers salvaging partly rotten potatoes from others that had turned stale. One person was arrested and produced before Dambulla Acting Magistrate Jayampathi Ratnadeewara who ordered that the whole stock be destroyed.
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