Sri Lanka Customs Revenue Task Force (RTF) has confiscated a massive stock of unlawfully imported cigarettes during a check at a storage facility in the Colombo Port area.
The shipment contained a total of 713,000 cigarette sticks packed in 3,565 boxes, which were illegally brought into the country in a deceptive cargo.
The illegal goods were found hidden inside five pallets of hollow polypropylene corrugated panels, measuring 5mm thick, which had been shipped from the United Arab Emirates to a firm in Padukka, Sri Lanka Customs confirmed.
The estimated worth of the cigarettes stands at Rs. 124,019,554, causing a tax loss to the government amounting to Rs. 107,985,621, as per Sri Lanka Customs.
Further inquiries are underway by RTF officials.
