Sanath Jayasuriya has been accused of smuggling 'supari' to India
World Cup winner and Sri Lankan cricket legend Sanath Jayasuriya and two other cricketers have been accused of smuggling rotten betel nuts to India. Jayasuriya's name came up after the directorate of revenue intelligence seized smuggled betel nuts worth millions, and the cricket legend has been called to Mumbai for questioning. The names of the other two cricketers aren't known. Here's more.
Jayasuriya reportedly exerted influence to form dummy companies for smuggling
As reported by the Dainik Bhaskar, Jayasuriya and his accomplices reportedly exerted their influence in Sri Lanka to obtain licenses for forming dummy companies through which the smuggling operations were carried out. The two other cricketers will be summoned for questioning on December 2, and a letter has been sent to the Sri Lankan government for further inquiry.
The smuggling operation was exploiting the SAFTA Act
The betel nuts, originally from Indonesia, were smuggled into India via Sri Lanka. According to Dilip Sivare, the deputy director of revenue intelligence, the smuggling operation was drawing illegal advantages from the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Act, which waives import duties for trade of certain commodities between India and Sri Lanka that are produced indigenously by either and sold to the other.
The cricketing legacy of Sanath Jayasuria
Sanath Jayasuria is one of Sri Lanka's biggest cricketing legends, with 13,430 runs in 445 ODIs, and 6,973 runs in 110 test matches. He has a total of 42 centuries to his name, and also has to his credit 323 wickets from 445 ODIs.
