Customs to forfeit illegal shipment of dried ginger, urid and palm sugar

The preventive division of the Customs said that they detained an illegal shipment of dried ginger, urid and palm sugar this week.

Customs Media Spokesman, Deputy Director of customs (legal) Sudattha Silva said that they detected a 20-foot container which was declared to have 23,150 kg of kollu was containing currently restricted import goods such as dried ginger, urid and palm sugar.

He explained that the imported goods were concealed among 18,000 kilograms of kollu. He said that they carried out the inspection due to suspicion following customs declaration submitted by the importer.

Mr Silva said that they discovered 2,474 kilograms of dried ginger, 2465 kilograms of urid and 248 kilograms of palm sugar hidden in similar bags which contained kollu. He said that the market value of the illegal import was over Rs6,400,000.

Mr Silva also added that if the illegal import was a success, the government would have lost Rs 1,838,636 of payable taxes.

He added that at the conclusion of the investigation they would carry out a customs inquiry and forfeit the shipment. Apart from that they would impose a penalty on the persons responsible.