Sri Lanka has intensified its drive against contraband including gold smuggling by deploying CID detectives and Customs Officers in plain clothes at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), the Finance Ministry announced.
Customs checks have been revived after the rapid increase in smuggling gold into the country to avoid 15 per cent new tax on gold imports, a senior Treasury official said on Monday.
This was result of a special meeting held by the Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera with the heads of the CID and Customs to detect contraband being brought to the country causing loss of millions of rupees in revenue to the state, he revealed.
In a latest crack down on gold smugglers CID officers in mufti arrested an inbound Sri Lankan passenger from New Delhi when he tried to escape after Customs clearance at BIA with 20 kilos of gold stitched to his clothing on Friday.
The gold was valued at Rs. 130 million, he said adding that more than a dozen arrests have been made in the past few weeks after the government slapped a 15 per cent tax on imports of gold, claiming that a tax-free facility provided was being misused.
Passengers have been smuggling gold in various ways into the country hidden inside bags, shoes and clothing, he added. (Bandula)
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A passenger attempting to smuggle the largest quantity of gold of 35 kilo grams was arrested by the Customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) today, a senior official said.
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