No more auctioning of beedi leaves confiscated by Customs

• Cabinet decides to move away from past practice, destroy confiscated cargo
• Says complaints of large-scale fraud taking part in process
• Cabinet also takes into consideration adverse effects on health of beedi users

Confiscated stocks of beedi leaves will no longer be auctioned but destroyed under strict supervision, according to a Cabinet decision taken on Wednesday. The procedure hitherto was for beedi leaves that are imported illegally and seized by Customs to be sold after calling for tenders.  

The tenders are called twice, and only if there are no buyers are the stocks destroyed, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Bandula Gunawardana said. He said that the National Security Council has received many complaints about malpractices in the process of auctioning the seized beedi leaves while the adverse impact on the health of consumers too was taken into consideration too, when taking the decision to destroy the stocks.

At present there is a stock of 11370 kilograms of illegally imported beedi leaves in the country, he said. The Minister added that while destroying the stocks would mean a loss of income to the Customs Department, there were allegations of large-scale fraud taking place in the auctioning process and this would stop with the decision to destroy the stocks.