Sri Lanka Customs has uncovered 16,000 kilograms of turmeric fingers and 1,150 kilograms of oven-dried whole cashew nuts hidden inside a shipment declared as gypsum plasterboards, Newswire reported on Friday.
The Customs Preventive (Operations) Branch flagged the consignment for detailed inspection after it was imported by a company based in Panwila, Kandy. Officers said the agricultural goods had been carefully concealed inside the boards in an apparent attempt to evade detection and bypass import regulations. Further investigations are under way to identify the parties responsible and determine whether others were involved.
The seizure is the second gypsum-concealment case in three days. On 29 April, the Customs Revenue Task Force intercepted 6.5 tonnes of turmeric hidden in a separate gypsum plaster shipment imported from India — that case involved a different unit (RTF Operations) and a different importer. Today’s detection by the Preventive Branch is more than twice the volume of turmeric and the first known case in this cycle to bundle cashew nuts with turmeric inside the same concealment.
The detection adds to a sustained Customs enforcement push that has exceeded monthly revenue targets for four consecutive months, with 186.5 billion rupees collected in the first 27 days of April against a 181.3 billion target. Indian turmeric in particular has been a recurring target of smuggling attempts, with multiple detections this month including a navy interdiction at Kalpitiya.
Source: Newswire.
