Sri Lanka Customs’ Port Control officers has levied a fine of Rs 1 million against a captain of a Myanmar-flagged cargo ship after detecting undeclared cartons of foreign cigarettes on his vessel.
The Port Control Unit following a thorough inspection of the ship, bulk carrier MV THAI BINH 039 on Tuesday, captured undeclared cigarettes amounting to Rs. 6,699,000 onboard, said Customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratna.
“It is a cement cargo ship. The control officers conducted an inspection on it following a receipt of information from a local that cigarettes are on it,” he said.
“In the list of items declared to the Customs by them, it read “nil” against cigarettes, which means they do not carry any cigarettes onboard,” he said.
“The seized cigarettes were forfeited and the captain was released after he paid a fine of Rs 1 million.” The investigation was conducted by officers, Indula Mahesh, Nuwan Wanigasekera and Pulasthi Lakshan under the directions of Customs Deputy Director K B A Jayasooriya, Chief Preventive Officer A R Senadheera and Deputy Director G G Premasiri.