A racket involving packeting of sugar unfit for human consumption back to the market was bared in Dambulla on Sunday.
Dambulla Mayor Jaliya Opatha said that a consignment of sugar imported from India to Sri Lanka which was unfit for human consumption was found in a private warehouse behind the Dambulla Economic Centre, being packed back into packages which stated that the sugar was imported from Dubai.
The Municipal Council team inspecting a private warehouse behind the Dambulla Economic Centre said that this procedure had been going on since several days before behind closed doors. The Mayor took action to lodge a complaint with the Dambulla Police regarding the owner of the operation and the stock of sugar.
Dambulla Mayor Jaliya Opatha said that these swindlers were engaged in a very despicable process of selling these stocks of sugar to consumers all over the country during the upcoming Christmas and festive seasons.
The Mayor said that these stocks of sugar, which had been hidden during the sugar shortage in the country, had been soiled by rats and other animals and all their packaging had decayed, become damp and discoloured and some of the sugar had become unfit for human consumption. He said further when he and a group went to the warehouse, several workers were putting the sugar imported from India on to the floor and dividing up the sugar without following any protective method and changing the expiry dates and repacking the sugar into packages that stated that they had been imported from Dubai.
The businessman who was engaged in this process said that they were sorting out only the sugar that was usable and was disposing the remaining sugar unsuitable for human consumption. However, while inspecting the warehouse, it was found that a number of food items which were also spoilt and stored in the same warehouse such as laundry soap powder, coriander and rice, were discovered too, Mayor Jaliya Opatha said.
Apparently, this same businessman had been warned on several previous occasions regarding storing consumer goods unfit for human consumption and selling them. Even though legal action had been taken against this individual, he continues to engage in this process, Opatha said.
He said that facts will be presented by the police to the Dambulla Magistrate’s Court regarding preparing this stock of sugar to be sold to the public and that legal action will be taken.
Add new comment