From Ukraine 28 containers of coriander seeds worth Rs. 75 million by the Customs Department.
By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana
Sri Lanka Customs yesterday
exhibited a large stock of agricultural plant waste sent from Ukraine, which
had arrived in the country in 28 container loads declared as Coriander seeds
worth of Rs.75 million to the media.
Several containers carrying the
agro-plant waste were opened and exhibited by the senior Customs officials at
its inspection yard at Rank Container Terminal (RCT) in Orugodawatta yesterday
afternoon.
Customs Additional Director
General and its Spokesperson Sunil Jayaratne said the first batch of eight
containers had arrived in the country on December 20 whilst the rest of the 20
containers had arrived at the Colombo Port on December 21.
The consignment had been shipped
by a Ukrainian company called Agronika Trade PLC in Kyiv falsely declared as
Whole Coriander Seeds with a bogus value of approximately Rs.75 million in the
cargo manifest of the vessel that transported them.
ADG Jayaratne said the
consignment was reportedly accompanied with a Phytosanitory Certificate issued
by the State Service of Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Ukraine. A
Phytosanitary Certificate is an official document required when shipping
regulated articles such as plants, plant products or other regulated articles.
A phyto-certificate is an official document that is generated from the
exporting country's department of horticulture, agriculture, food or water
resources.
The consignment which included
grounded plant material or chips of trees had been addressed to eight
consignees of the Pettah food trading community and some of them were believed
to be reputed traders, who engage in day-to-day consumer product imports.
According to the preliminary
investigations the Customs suspect whether the consignees had been tricked by a
local indenting agent for sending waste instead of actual coriander, for which
a large sum of money had already been paid by the traders.
The first four containers had
been inspected by the officials of the Central Environment Authority (CEA) who
instructed the Customs to re-export them to its origin.
Importation of plants or parts of
plants is restricted under the Plant Protection Act.35 of 1999, whilst
importation of any waste material is prohibited under the Customs Ordinance as
well as the International Basel Convention, which Sri Lanka is a signatory.
Director of Customs Social
Protection S P I Balasooriya and the team are conducting investigations on the
instructions of Customs Director General Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Vijitha Ravipriya
and Additional Director General Ananda Eshwaran.
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