Lanka Sathosa yesterday sought to clear its name in relation to the recent find of cocaine in a sugar container delivered to its warehouse as Industry and Commerce Minister Rishard Bathuideen insisted that Police investigate into how the cocaine came to be delivered to its Economic Centre.
Police as well as employees of Sathosa have scrambled to take credit for the detection of around 218 kg of cocaine on 19 July.
“Sathosa has 137 registered suppliers. Having called for tenders, we chose Ranjitha Pulses to supply 500 metric tons of sugar to us. Their lorry delivered the sugar to us on 19 July. It was when our employees broke the Customs seal and started transferring bags that the cocaine was detected. I asked them to inform it to the closest police station,” Lanka Sathosa Chairman TMKB Tennakoon said addressing the media at the Government Information Department.
He said neither the employees nor the officials have any connection to the drugs. They opened what the Customs had sealed, he said. Police arrested seven suspects in connection with the haul, including the container driver and two workers of the Economic Centre who had stolen two packets of cocaine from the container. The value of the cocaine is Rs. 3.2 billion.
Sugar Importers Association Vice President Nihal Seneviratne said it was in June last year that they had the first detection of cocaine from a sugar container imported from Brazil.
The importer was arrested as a suspect in the case. He was released with no charges, eight months later, Seneviratne said.
Since then, the Association has insisted that sugar imports from Brazil be stopped, he said.
About 600,000 metric tons of sugar is imported per year, out of which 60-65 percent comes from Brazil.
“This shipment was from Brazil. But it had come to the country in November last year. We have another 70 such containers with Customs,” Sugar Importers’ Association Media Spokesperson Hemaka Fernando said.
The Association asked Police and the Customs to inspect the containers and clear them of any suspicion, but they are yet to receive any response, he said.
Meanwhile, local wholesalers voiced concerns to the minister over the risk of purchasing sugar. The Minister in reply said that the importers would take responsibility for any contraband they deliver to wholesalers.
“These drugs are smuggled at transshipment points. Most containers which were caught had short transshipment times. It is possible that the dealers did not have time to switch the goods,” said Fernando who stressed that it was up to the authorities to ensure that containers coming into the country are drugs free.
The Customs in 2015 announced that they were looking to install a container scanning system to improve the efficiency of Customs detections. They are yet to install such a system. The Customs processes about 1,100 import containers daily out of which 10 to 15 percent randomly selected containers are subjected to x-ray scanning.