Top liquor den busted

Over Rs. 100m worth imported liquor, cigarettes seized:

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

Organised Crime and Anti Vice Division of the Police Department which is reputed for daring raids and arrests of high profile criminals in the recent past received a tip off three weeks ago about a secret storage of imported liquor in Colombo.

The anonymous caller revealed how a high scale liquor business has been in operation for many months in the heart of Colombo under the nose of the law enforcement authorities.

The detectives doing initial background study learnt that expensive imported liquor are being sold to a network of prominent people at duty free rates. These personnel consisted of powerful politicians, leading businessmen and senior police and Customs officials.

The special unit prepared to conduct a careful operation that could not be hindered by any unforeseen force. So they laid a plan to apprehend not only the simple operatives but the sharks behind this top notch sale of liquor.

Trace

Two officials of the Organised Crime and Anti Vice Division (OCAVD) Sub Inspectors Kelum Somaratne and Prabath Premachandra under the instructions of their OIC Inspector K O P Abeyratne managed to trace the phone number of the owner of the business to arrange a deal.

Winning the confidence of the businessman by saying that they received his number from one of the clients SI Kelum in the guise of a trader inquired to buy a stock of whisky for his wedding ceremony.

He said he wanted to buy 15 bottles of Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky at a low cost.

The buyer was asked to come to a place in Colombo but however he was not met by anyone.

The police believe that this method was practised by many engaged in illicit deals to ensure safety from law enforcement officials in plain clothes. Finally realising that these were genuine buyers who intended to purchase liquor for a wedding, the owner of the business invited them to the secret location where the sale takes place.

Soft drinks

The two Sub Inspectors (SI) were directed to an address at Fairline Road in Borella where they visited on Tuesday morning. Upon arrival they noticed that the place operated in the guise of a distribution agency for soft drinks.

A large number of plastic cans were visible outside the house and several people were busy engaged in different tasks. The detectives in civvies were led into an inside room where they were given the required amount of bottles in exchange for money. The SI who purchased the stock came out assisted by one of the employees to carry the bottles to his vehicle.

In the meantime, the other SI tried to work out a new deal with the businessman saying whether he could buy more bottles on credit.

The officer who went outside with the contraband called the police backup unit and waited in the vicinity until a signal came from his partner.

Within moments an armed group of policemen surrounded the place and took everybody into custody.

Eight men including the millionaire businessman were arrested by the police at the crime scene who recovered the storage worth millions of rupees.

The detectives were stunned by the massive stock of imported liquor that were stored in the house which had been brought several weeks ago in two 20-foot container loads. Stacks of cases consisting of a large variety of foreign spirits were among the stock, including a range of imported cigarettes.

The stock of spirits included expensive brands. The police also found 17, 511 bottles of alcohol and found sale records of 26, 000 bottles being brought to the spot earlier.

They also found 85 boxes each containing 10,000 cigarettes belonging to international brands.

The value of the spirits has been estimated at Rs. 80 million and the cigarettes were valued at Rs. 20 million. The value of the entire stock is roughly estimated at Rs. 100 million, the police said.

The police produced the suspects in Maligakanda Magistrate's Courts on Wednesday who remanded them until Friday.

On Friday seven suspects were bailed out and the owner Mohamed Kamaldeen Rizvan was re-remanded until next Thursday.

OIC Abeyratne told the Sunday Observer that this activity had continued for several months under the patronage of senior law enforcement authorities and politicians.

It is believed that the stock of liquor had been imported duty-free through the Customs by a registered importer.

The imported liquor is believed to have been kept in a Customs Bonded Warehouse which had the authority to store duty free liquor. However it is suspected that these bottles had been smuggled out of that warehouse.

Detection

The detection was carried out by the police under the laws of the Excise Ordinance of possessing and sale of liquor without a valid permit.

The police have also sought legal assistance from the Customs Department to understand how the goods had been smuggled out from a bonded warehouse violating the laws stated in the Customs Ordinance.

[Customs' response]

Responding to fingers pointed at the Customs that a large quantity of foreign liquor could not be smuggled out of a customs warehouse without the knowledge of the former, its Spokesman Director Leslie Gamini said that it was the first time in the history that such an incident was reported.

According to the Customs Ordinance foreign liquor can be imported in bulk into the country but they ought to be stored in a Customs Bonded Warehouse.

A bonded warehouse is a place which has the authority to store products such as liquor and other goods that are being imported without paying duty to the Customs.When liquor is imported it is being stored in these Customs Bonded Warehouses, monitored under the close supervision of the Customs officials.

The liquor will be stored in these warehouses to be distributed to Duty Free Shops either at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake or Colombo Port.

The particular shops that have the authority to sell duty free liquor will collect their goods from these warehouses once it arrives in the country.

Another purpose to maintain these bonded warehouses is to serve duty free liquor to diplomatic missions in the country. The Customs officials are taking constant records from the arriving and departing liquor stocks at the warehouse. The stocks in these warehouse cannot be moved without the approval and knowledge of the Customs.

Director Gamini said that officials of the Police Legal Division had already sought his assistance to understand the provisions of the Customs Ordinance in relation to this type of breach of law.

The police are currently conducting further investigations to find how these stocks were taken to the house in Borella. They have also found a list of regular buyers who had purchased expensive liquor from this businessman.

That list includes politicians, businessmen and senior law enforcement officials.

Organised Crime and Anti Vice Division team comprising IP K O P Abeyratne, Inspector Janak de Silva, Sub Inspectors Kelum Somaratne and Prabath Premachandra, Sergeant Senaratne (24154), Constables Balagolla (77008) and Attanayake (62973) and Police Assistant Silva (627) made the raid under the instructions of DIG Crime Jayantha Wickremesinghe, Director Crime SSP T Ganeshanathan.