Customs to decide fate of mystery urea shipment

By Prabath Withana

The Customs would decide what to do with a urea shipment weighing 9,795 tons that arrived at the Colombo Port on Wednesday long after the government banned agrochemical imports, after their inquiry was over, Customs Spokesman, Deputy Director Sudaththa Silva told The Island yesterday.

Silva said that the government had decided to ban agrochemicals on 06 May but the urea had been loaded into the ship, at an Indonesian port on 06 March, as per the documents produced by the crew.

Silva said that they asked the Captain why it had taken so long to reach Sri Lanka and the Captain had said that the ship had developed technical problems in the Malacca Strait, forcing it to visit a Malaysian Port for repairs.

Customs are trying to verify the claims of the Captain and the ship is under their custody until the investigations are over.

“We will decide whether to confiscate the shipment based on whether the Captain is telling us the truth or not. The shipment has been imported by a private company located in Colombo 08,” Silva said.