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Unofficial and unconfirmed information are rapidly spread through social media pages and many users assume them to be true without confirming them. Many social media pages which spread such misleading and false information present these news as articles published in newspapers and media organizations in order to gain the trust of its followers. This is an explanation we did regarding such a news.
Social media posts
A social media post was circulated stating “what was in the 65lakh kilos of 323 containers that were released without inspection? Heroine? Or Gold? These containers were brought by the Western Province Governor, Hanif Yusuf, of Anura’s government”. (“පරීක්ෂා නොකර නිදහස් කල කන්ටේනර් 323ට අදාලව කිලෝ ලක්ෂ 65ක තිබ්බේ මොනවාද? හෙරොයින්ද? රත්රං ද? කන්ටේනර් ගෙන්වා ඇත්තේ අනුරගේ බස්නාහිර ආණ්ඩුකාර හනීෆ් යුසුෆ්”)
Also, another post stated that the containers contained weapons, explosives, heroine or other narcotics.
These posts were circulated through WhatsApp as well.
Based on these statements, we checked whether these containers actually contained weapons, explosives or gold.
Explainer
We first checked whether the news that was reported under the above-mentioned headline, in a newspaper article template, was actually a newspaper article.
Our investigation confirmed that it was not published in any of the newspapers or in mainstream media.
However, for the past few days there was a talk in social media about 323 containers that have been released without being checked and that those belonging to the Western Province Governor.
323 containers released without inspection
Recently, during a press conference, the President of the Custom Officers’ Association, Mr. Amila Sanjeewa stated that 323 containers have been released without inspection.
He stated that these 323 containers which were directed to be inspected by three officials under the consent of the Director General of Customs on January 18th, have been decided to release from the customs custody without the inspection.
It is said that out of the 323 containers, there are a huge number of containers that are marked as red, in a document of 4 pages, wasting the efforts made to maintain the goods clearance process efficiently. He further stated that it is still not known, whether there were medicines unapproved by the National Drug Regulatory Authority, unusable perfumes, cosmetics, harmful things, weapons or drugs etc. among the containers and that it is impossible to take the responsibility by the customs officers of the relevant department.
However, as indicated in the above social media post, it is not stated that these containers belong to Hanif Yusuf, the Western Province Governor in his statement.
This matter was also discussed in the Parliament and the opposition parties also did not mention that these containers contain drugs, weapons, or heroin. Also, there were no allegations against Mr. Hanif Yusuf.
However, the Youth Progressive Movement (ප්රගතිශීලි තරුණ ව්යාපාරය) had filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department stating that the containers that were released from the customs without inspection are suspected to belong to a government supporter.
The Deputy Minister of Economic Department Prof. Anil Jayantha Fernando mentioned that such clearances also occurred in 2024, and that an investigation will be done as soon as possible.
Custom media spokesperson
We inquired about this from the Additional Director General, Customs Media Spokesperson Mr. Seevali Arukgoda. He stated that these containers contained vehicle spare parts, electronic devices, materials and equipment belonging to the garment sector, including things of organizations such as Stafford Motor, DIMO and things that belong to other businessmen etc.
He pointed out that all the containers in the custom are subjected to scanning, and in some cases when some suspicion arises, those containers are opened and further inspected. He stated that not all the containers are opened and inspected one by one.
He further mentioned that they can assure that none of the containers were smuggled like in the LTT terrorist organization, passed weapons in the past.
Also, he mentioned that a decision was taken on June 2024, to decide on the containers that can be cleared without inspection through a committee of senior officials.
Accordingly, the committee has been in action since July 2024, and on many occasions before this incident with 323 containers took place, they have released many containers in this procedure to reduce the congestion of containers. He mentions that they can ensure there was no corruption or fraud occurred at these instances and that this committee was functioned under their supervision.
Ports and Civil Aviation Deputy Minister Engineer Janith Ruwan Kodithivakku states that the above-mentioned procedure was done through a committee, and that there weren’t any fraud or corruption which took place. He mentions that if any fraud or corruption take place, they take the responsibility as the government. You can watch the video below.
Customs had also issued a media statement regarding this.
Media division of the Western Province Governor, Hanif Yusuf.
We inquired regarding this from the media division of the governor Hanif Yusuf, and they stated that though he is a businessman, he did not import drugs or weapons as mentioned in the social media posts nor he had any business like that and the imported containers were not cleared by the customs.
Expo Lanka Holdings Company
Expo Lanka Holdings Company, owned by Hanif Yusuf, denies all the allegations that were made regarding the unauthorized release of 323 containers from the customs, illegally.
Further they mentioned that the Expo Freight Forward Limited which is a subsidiary of their company, does not engage in importing goods.
Also, the Western Province Governor, Hanif Yusuf mentions that he resigned from all his positions at the company in March last year after delisting it from the stock market. Further he stated that he is only a consultant at the company and that he had not involvement in its recent operations.
Police Media Division
We inquired the police Media Division regarding whether there is any information reported stating that the containers contained weapons and drugs and that they are related to the Western Province Governor. The Police Media Division confirmed that no such information was reported.
Delay in clearance of imported containers.
Mainstream media had reported on 10th January that nearly 800 container transport vehicles were parked in the port due to the delay in the clearance of imported containers.
They mentioned that due to the existing weaknesses in the management of the Port Authority and the Customs Department, the clearance and the dispatch of imported containers have been delayed. Mr. Sanath Manjula, the president of the All-Island United Container Transport Owners’ Association points out that the drivers have to wait in the port for almost a week due to the traffic to clear the containers.
The news reports further mentions that due to the delay in container clearance, there is a risk that the price of imported goods will increase by about 20% and that several organizations will have to pay late fees due to the delay in container clearance.
There is no official information that the 323 containers that were released without the inspection contained drugs, heroin, weapons or gold. The Customer Officers’ Association, which raised the issue in this regard, says that it is only an assumption that these substances may be present.
But they do not mention anything regarding the content of the containers or that they belong to the Western Province Governor. Those assumption were all made by social media pages.
Note: these clarifications in the article only mentions the available information so far. We hope to update this article with the reports of the final investigation of the incident.
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Title:The 323 containers that were released without inspection were brought by a company of the Western Province governor?
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Insight
