Beware! all that’s new maybe illegally assembled

Unscrupulous vehicle dealers are putting their customers at risk of losing their investment by selling them vehicles assembled with parts imported separately and altering chassis numbers to avoid paying Customs duty and subsequent registration fees. Although the Motor Traffic Commissioner is trying to introduce a foolproof method to curb this racket, more and more customers are falling prey to the swindle, The Sunday Times learns.

A Colombo businessman driving his jeep in the Maradana – Borella area in August was halted by Customs officials who wanted him to handover the vehicle to them for investigations on suspicion that it had been imported fraudulently into the country. The businessman had no option but to hand over the vehicle, but five months on he is still awaiting the outcome of the investigations.

His vehicle is among 130 vehicles seized during the past year in a similar manner by the Customs for inquiries. Many are still awaiting the outcome of the probe while their vehicles are going to ruin at warehouses or at the Colombo port risking corrosion. The usual modus operandi of the dealers is to import brand new vehicles in knocked-down form or import them as spare parts and later assemble the vehicle and alter the chassis numbers by replacing them with existing vehicle numbers.

More often than not the numbers are taken from vehicles that are condemned or those in unroadworthy condition. As a result a brand new vehicle may have a serial number of a vehicle which has been taken off the road over 10 years back. Motor Traffic Commissioner B.Wijeratne acknowledges that vehicles are being fraudulently assembled here and being registered with the RMV. He said in a move to curb the racket they have stopped issuing number plates for vehicles which they feel had been fraudulently assembled until an inquiry was conducted by the Customs.

"We have also stopped selling condemned vehicles so that the chassis numbers won’t be misused,” he said. However, he admitted that some of the numbers of condemned vehicles or those of vehicles sold at public auctions earlier were still being used to register vehicles which are illegally assembled here.

Mr. Wijeratne said it was upto the Customs to prevent such rackets as the RMV handles only the registration process. He said they couldn’t check on the genuineness of chassis numbers as that was the duty of the Government Analyst department. However Customs Additional Director (Preventive) K.A. Dharmasena said they are unable to check the authenticity of the documents that come from various countries.

He said when it is detected that a vehicle had been brought in parts they treat it as a case of smuggling and impose a fine. He said the assembling of the vehicle takes place subsequently and that could only be detected if they get a tip off. However, if the vehicle is later detected the buyer is liable to lose his vehicle and the money he spent on it as such investigations take a long period as they need reports from the Government Analyst.

Highlighting another problem faced by Customs, Mr. Dharmasena said some vehicles are smuggled in illegally in containers that pass off as other cargo depriving the Customs of revenue. He said a screening process has been in operation for the past three months to curb this racket but it was difficult to screen all the containers.