Inquiry clears World T20 officials of smuggling

The mystery van filled with boxes of goods from the ICC World T20 secretariat had been released by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after an inquiry established that it was not an attempt smuggle out goods.

The World T20 secretariat is located within the premises of SLC and on Monday evening SLC security had detained the van when some World T20 Secretariat officials attempted to take it out of the SLC compound without the relevant gate passes.

The van was full of boxes and local media was agog with speculation that it contained World T20 memorabilia such as T-shirts, bags and caps that were meant to be distributed among volunteers and other officials connected to the tournament. The theory was that the World T20 secretariat officials had held them without distributing and had attempted to smuggle them out.

However, SLC Chief Executive Ajit Jayasekara who conducted an inquiry found that the van had actually been carrying the left over goods from the T20 office to be transported back to the ICC under instructions from ICC Events Manager Christ Tetley. “They produced the relevant documents and letters of authorization from the ICC at the inquiry. After establishing that there was no mischief involved, we released the van,” Jayasekara told “Daily Mirror.”

Jayasekara said the initial misunderstanding had been created as the van driver did not possess the required documents to clear the goods through the SLC Security point.

By Channaka De Silva
Source: Daily Mirror(Sri Lanka)