News
Former Customs officer arrested over areca nut fraud
13 Apr, 2021
A former Assistant Superintendent of Customs has been arrested for aiding the re-exportation of illegally imported areca nut containers.
Police Spokesman, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ajith Rohana said the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had launched investigations into the illegally imported containers from August to October 2020.
He said 23 containers of areca nut had been illegally imported from Indonesia under forged documents. Attempts had been made to re-export the containers to India by providing forged documents claiming that the areca nuts had been produced in Sri Lanka.
DIG Ajith Rohana said three suspects had been arrested and produced in Court earlier in connection to the stock of areca nuts that has been valued at over Rs. 300.
Further investigations had identified the involvement of a former Assistant Superintendent of Customs.
The Police Spokesman said the former officer who is under interdiction had been arrested by the Police yesterday.
He has been charged with entering forged documents into the system of the Customs Department for the re-exportation of the containers.
DIG Ajith Rohana said the 29-year-old suspect from Wadduwa was arrested by the CID yesterday.
He said the CID is conducting further investigations into the incident. (Colombo Gazette)
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