Once the vehicles arrived, the officers of the Radiation Protection Authority verified the vehicles and isolated them. The vehicles have been placed in a 40-feet container where all suspicious products are normally quarantined at the port.
Since the Japanese nuclear plant at Fukushima was affected post-tsunami, a series of measures have been set up to control vehicles being brought in from Japan to the country.
An officer of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) elaborated that these include specific tests. If the test results are positive, the importer has to send the vehicles back to Japan at his own expense.
The MRA has a database on these products, and has the authority to conduct inspections of these vehicles.
Four hundred vehicles are currently stuck in Japanese ports awaiting shipment to Mauritius.
New and reconditioned cars and spare parts that are imported from that country need to be accompanied by a letter of guarantee issued by the manufacturer and sent to the authorised dealer here.
According to a local car dealer, several mechanics go to Japan to buy spare parts for cars or vehicles that have been damaged following the tsunami.
“Spare parts that could have been affected by radioactivity should not land on the Mauritian market as it will be harmful to health,” he said.
The dealer added, “Many people go there to buy cars for as little as Rs 5,000. We may soon see cars which were declared as ‘total loss’ in Japan.”
