News
Pre-festive checks uncover fakes and hidden rice stock
View(s):By Dilushi Wijesinghe
With the Sinhala and Tamil New Year approaching, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) and Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) have intensified raids to prevent possible scarcities and the exploitation of consumers in the coming days.
Director of Raids and Special Investigation of the CAA Sanjaya Irasinghe told the Sunday Times that warehouses of essential food items were raided, taking note of their stocks. “This was done to avoid a possible scarcity as importers are known to stock up goods and sell for higher prices when the demand is high,” he said.
Mr. Irasinghe also said raids to check whether the weight and price of bread are displayed are underway.
The Special Raids Division has carried out 1,999 island-wide raids as of March. On a complaint, a raid headed by Acting Head and Senior Investigation Officer of the division Chathura Herath took place in Aluthgama, Horana on March 28.
The complaint was about the sale of 1,000kgs of keeri samba packed into 5kgs each by a vendor, violating the market price. “He denied that he was selling the sacks, but we discovered that he had hidden 1,000 kilograms (5 kg sacks) of keeri samba at the back of his house, located behind his shop,” said the Special Raids Division.
The suspects, the owner of the shop and his son who were released on conditional bail, are due to be produced in the Kesbewa Magistrate’s Court next week.
Another raid on March 20 at Aluthkade, Pettah detected four shops selling fakes including 120 bottles of vaseline, Fifty bottles of Axe body spray and 60 bottles of Tresemme shampoo, the label printed with the phrase “Unilever South Africa”.
After verifying from Unilever Sri Lanka, the mother company in the United Kingdom and Unilever South Africa who confirmed that the said branch of the company does not manufacture the items, the regulator seized the items.
The watchdog suspects that the
items were duplicates and were smuggled in, tax free. The Special Raids Division said the contents were less than that in the originals.
The shop owners are to be produced in the Aluthkade Magistrate’s
Court next week.
The PHIs of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) have also been conducting raids from March 27 to 29 at eateries in Colombo 1 to 15.
“Eighty seven eateries were given notices, and fifty nine were taken to court due to sanitary, quality and storage issues under the food act,” CMC’s chief PHI Samantha Kumara said.
Mr. Kumara said the raids took place under the supervision of Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Geethika Rathnawardhana. Fifty PHIs and seven MOHs were involved.
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