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Authorities to block foreign liquor flooding market
Authorities will crack down on the transportation and sale of foreign liquor as large stocks are flooding the open market depriving the state of billions of rupees in revenue, a senior official with the Excise Department said yesterday.He said foreign liquor, cleverly hidden among various merchandise, are smuggled into the country through the entry ports. These are later sold at slashed prices in licensed liquor outlets hurting the sale of local products.
The result of a recent raid at the BIA
“The state loses billions in revenue from excise taxes because more and more consumers opt for foreign products since they are sold at affordable prices,” Excise Superintendent (Special Operations) Rohan Wijeyratne told the Sunday Times.
He said a proposal was underway to restrict the number of foreign liquor bottles stored or transported by a person to 10 (7.5 litres) as was the case with local alcohol products.
Currently an unlimited amount of foreign liquor can be transported or stored.He said over the past several weeks the Excise Department carried out more than 20 raids on establishments and individuals trading in foreign liquor without a licence or documents on the source of supply or purchases.
Around 500,000 bottles of foreign liquor were seized and 10 suspects were taken into custody during these raids, he said adding that the figures could increase in the following weeks. It has also been revealed that the outer precincts of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) are being used by bootleggers trading in foreign liquor brought in by visitors entering the country.
“The area around the BIA has turned into a clandestine collecting centre for foreign liquor that is purchased by inbound travellers and visitors to the country through a network that includes employees of the airport.
In a recent detection at the BIA car park two people were apprehended along with 32 bottles of foreign liquor stored in two vehicles. A third vehicle with a load of foreign liquor had got away shortly before the Excise raiding team arrived,” SP Wijeyratne added.
Excise officers have also stepped up raids on hotels, night clubs, up market restaurants and places of entertainment trading in alcohol without valid permits in and around the city.From the start of this year around 20 such places, some operating in the heart of the city and others in suburbs such as Dehiwala and Mount Lavinia, were busted
Recently in an undercover operation, Excise sleuths busted a leading tourist hotel in Ratnapura found to be trading in alcohol without a licence.Investigations revealed that the hotel had been trading in alcohol without a valid permit for the past three years and that the owner enjoyed political patronage under the former government.
Around 70 bottles of foreign liquor were seized and a person described as an employee of the hotel was taken into custody.
At the time of the raid the hotel lobby and restaurant were packed with tourists who were apparently unaware of the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages, SP Wijeyratne said.
The raids were conducted under the instructions of the newly appointed Excise chief L.K.G. Gunawardene and Deputy Commissioner (Crimes) Pushpakumara Silva.