In the wake of a recent expose in the Sunday Times about unscrupulous businessmen, making use of loopholes in the law, making millions out of parts from sunken ships, details are emerging that a private company is delving deep into the eastern seas and allegedly making huge profits from the sale of items and scraps recovered from sunken ships.
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| Scenes captured by Anthony Cruz on the Kalmunai beach: Locally-built crane that is used for the illegal salvaging of buried treasures (above) and a recently put up police post (in the background) to curb these operations (below) |
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The company together with corrupt officials of the Coastal Conservation Department (CCD) is robbing the state of millions of rupees, the Sunday Times learns.
The company armed with a so-called permit issued by the CCD is carrying out these operations in broad day light, although Amparai Government Agent S. Kannangara has not endorsed such a permit.
The CCD is not sanctioned to provide a permit to remove items from sunken ships. However it is authorized to take necessary measures to conserve the coast. Using this loophole in law, some corrupt officials have issued letters or certificates to individuals or private companies to clean up the sea, the Sunday Times learns.
It is also learnt, the operation is also backed by officials of the local council in the area.
One local council member said that the ship wrecks needed to be removed since they interfered with the nets of deep sea fishermen.
However, local fishermen and others familiar with the coast say the wrecks were buried in deep seas way beyond the reach of fishing nets.
According to officials of the Ceylon Merchant Shipping, private individuals are only allowed to carry out development and other related activities on the beaches, but they are not permitted to venture out to sea for treasure hunting.
They say ship wrecks are state property and the salvaging of them is not the task of the CCD.
These officials said this private company involved in the illegal operations apparently enjoyed the backing of politicians from the area and outside.
There are apparently 37 recorded ship wrecks in the entire east coast, amounting to hundreds of tons of metal, worth millions of rupees in the open market.
Coast Conservation Department Director Anil Premaratne who is the issuing authority of coast clearance certificates, refused to comment on the matter.
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| A partly buried fan salvaged from a wrecked ship |
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| This picture shows just the surface of some buried iron objects removed from a sunken ship |
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