Sri Lanka’s Customs Department has issued a warning to vehicle importers after 197 vehicles, recently imported on the first ship to arrive following the lifting of the vehicle import ban in Sri Lanka, were found to have falsified production dates.
The vehicles, shipped from Japan by the NYK company, were flagged during a routine inspection.
According to sources, the vehicles were manufactured in 2022 but had altered documentation regarding their production dates.
Customs officials have confirmed that investigations into the matter are ongoing.
The fraudulent activity is believed to involve a small group of Sri Lankan importers in collaboration with a Japanese exporter.
The vehicles in question, which arrived on the first shipment after the ban was lifted on February 1, were missing proper certificates for the production dates, as required under Sri Lanka’s updated vehicle import regulations.
Under the new rules, which were introduced with the gazette published on February 1, the production year has replaced the registration year as the key metric for determining the eligibility of imported vehicles.
Authorities are now closely monitoring the situation to prevent further instances of fraud and to ensure compliance with the updated regulations.
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