COLOMBO: Sri Lanka may face shortage of sugar as cocaine is smuggled into the country concealed in containers of sugar shipped from Brazil.
Sri Lanka Director General of Customs says the Customs has to introduce a system to examine the containers for a second time because stocks of cocaine were shipped hidden in containers of sugar imported to the country. As a result there will be a delay in releasing the sugar imported from Brazil by the Customs, Director General of Customs Chulananda Perera said.
“Most of the sugar imported to Sri Lanka comes from Brazil and the containers are shipped through Portugal. Now many people know that the cocaine was hidden in these containers,” the official told BBC Sandeshaya.
Sri Lanka Police in July this year seized the largest ever consignment of cocaine weighing 274 kilograms concealed in two containers of sugar at a private container yard in Peliyagoda. Most recently on November 9 the Police seized a consignment of 31 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a sugar container again at a private container yard in Peliyagoda.
Following the discoveries the Customs had to launch a testing process to check every container, the Director General said adding that it is a strenuous and time consuming task.He pointed out that since cocaine and sugar have similar densities it is difficult to separately identify the containers with the scanners the Customs possesses.
Even in a country like Korea where, sophisticated technology is available, the drug detection is done on information received, the official noted,
“Around 1300 containers are brought to Sri Lanka in a day, and checking all of them is a difficult task. So we relaxed the inspections a little but now they are coming back, “the Director General said.As a result, the process to check every container has to be started again, Mr. Perera said.
The Director General said that the sugar importers have been informed to setup a system to check the containers using GPS technology in order to minimize a shortage of sugar.
