Counterfeit and pirated goods valued at Rs. 31 MN imported illegally violating the Intellectual Property Act and Customs Ordinance were destroyed at Sri Lanka Customs, Orugodawatta yesterday.
Goods numbering 130,000 including items such as toys, stationery, mobile phone accessories, pharmaceuticals and automobile parts were destroyed.
The goods were forfeited in late 2017 by the International Property Rights Dedicated Office of the Sri Lanka Customs.
Director General of the Customs P.S.M. Charles along with Additional Director General of the Customs Lalith Weerasinghe and other high rank officials inspected the destroying of the counterfeit and pirated goods .
The event was organised by the Consumer Protection Unit of the Sri Lanka Customs together with the Policy Planning and Research Division as a part of the events to commemorate the International Customs Day 2018 under the theme “A secure Business Environment for Economic Development.”
Customs Spokesman Deputy Director Sunil Jayaratne addressing the media pointed out that the toys and stationery that were destroyed contained carcinogen which cause cancer. He pointed out that the toys and stationery were made with low quality raw materials which cause harm to children’s health. Jayaratne also pointed out that mobile phone accessories which were a part of the destroyed goods were also low quality items that cause accidents to the consumers.
Jayaratne said that the Sri Lanka Customs requests the general public to refrain from purchasing low quality items from the market at low prices.