Ban on errant dealers importing vehicle body parts

By Anura Maitipe

The Government has banned the import of vehicle body parts by unauthorised dealers to prevent the import of vehicles under the guise of body parts, the Deputy Controller of Imports and Exports, S. Wansatillaka told the Sunday Observer.

This decision has been taken by the Controller of Imports and Exports to check irregularities that had been taking place in importing vehicle body parts. The import of new vehicles under the guise of body parts by dismantling them into parts has resulted in a huge loss to Government revenue. Some corrupt vehicle dealers have made use of this to evade taxes payable to the Government on the import of motor vehicles.

Meanwhile, the police had traced vehicles that have been registered with false number plates of discarded vehicles. Some of these vehicles had been registered with discarded bus numbers which were sold at public auctions by the SLTB in the North Central Province, police sources said.

Over 18 vehicles including luxury jeeps which had been registered with bus numbers have been seized. Police are conducting further investigations on this racket, the sources said.

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