Later, three of the shops have been permitted to reopen on a cash deposit.

These shops have been accused of having imported clothing illegally.

The owners include Sri Lanka Traders Association president Sarath Dharmasiri, secretary Indika Liyanage and vice president R. Samarakkody.

Convener of the organization to protect the Customs W.M.R. Wijekoon strongly condemns the finance minister for having used the Customs in this manner to intimidate the traders who have led the VAT protests.

This has taken place in the absence of the Customs director general, by a ministry official who has been appointed the acting DG, Wijekoon says.

He says the organization will complain to the president and the prime minister against this use of the Customs to take political revenge.

However, the finance ministry claims investigations have revealed these traders had been importing clothes without paying the taxes.

This has led to a loss of revenue amounting to billions of rupees, it says, adding the investigations were pursuant to instructions by minister Ravi Karunanayake.