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Myanmar embassy driver caught selling foreign liquor to Excise decoys
Government will be talking to the Myanmar Embassy, after a staff driver attached to that country’s Colombo Mission was caught in the act of trading in foreign liquor last Sunday, Deputy Minister Foreign Affairs Ajith Perera said yesterday.
Caught red-handed: The bottles of whisky
The Government was treating the matter as of the utmost importance. Mr. Perera said without elaborating.
The 24-year-old local Embassy driver was arrested while attempting to sell 100 bottles of foreign whisky, with a street value of Rs 450,000, at half the price, to Excise Dept decoys at a location in Colombo last Sunday afternoon, Excise Superintendent Rohan Wijeyratne told the Sunday Times.
“The Excise decoys had informed that a large stock of whisky was required urgently for an important VIP function,” he said
He said the suspect driver had initially promised to hand over the liquor near Nelum Pokuna Junction in Colombo 7, but later directed the decoys to the Myanmar Embassy at Rosmead Place.
The Excise decoys declined to enter the embassy owing to diplomatic complicity and insisted the deal be conducted at the earlier location at Nelum Pokuna Junction, to which the suspect agreed later, Mr Wijeyratne added.
He said the whisky was transported in a private van owned by the suspect, who had been on the embassy payroll for the past two-and-a-half years, and had apparently operated the trade for a considerable period of time.
The man was tracked down following information provided by members of the public.
“At the moment it is not clear if the man was operating on his own or with the connivance of others within the embassy, and this was a matter for the Foreign Ministry to ascertain,” Mr Wijeyratne added.
He further added that the quota allocated for the duty free purchase of liquor by foreign Missions is sanctioned by the Foreign Ministry, which the Excise Dept had nothing to do with.
According to Mr Wijeyratne, this was the first known case of an embassy employee being involved in the local bootlegging market.
He added that the van in which the suspect transported the liquor did not bear a diplomatic insignia (DPL) on this particular day.
“However, it cannot be ruled out if the DPL sign was used by the man on earlier occasions”, Mr Wijeyratne said.
Officials of the Myanmar embassy in Colombo could not be contacted for comment yesterday.