Contaminated coconut oil: CID questions five persons linked to importers

The CID has begun interrogating five persons linked to the three importers of contaminated coconut oil in a bid to get to the bottom of what is suspected to be a big time racket, which had continued for a considerable period of time.

Police said the phone records of the suspects will be checked to ascertain whether any others were also involved in the racket to inject cheap imported coconut oil with a high concentration of carcinogenic aflatoxins into the market.

Some Customs officers are also expected to be questioned by the CID in this connection.

Police have already taken into custody three bowsers suspected of transporting stocks of the contaminated coconut oil. Two were taken into police custody at Dankotuwa earlier in the week, while another was found parked at a private facility near the Economic Centre at Dambulla.

Samples of coconut oil from the bowsers will be sent for laboratory testing to ascertain whether they are fit for human consumption, police said.

(Source: The Island – By Norman Palihawadana)