Indian national arrested at Katunayake Airport with narcotics worth Rs. 454 million

Newswire and Sri Lanka Mirror report that Sri Lankan Customs officers detained a 46-year-old Indian national at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake on October 28. Sri Lanka Mirror identifies him as an engineer; Newswire says he was taken into Customs custody by officers of the Customs Narcotics Control Unit.

Newswire and Sri Lanka Mirror report that he arrived from Paris via Doha on Qatar Airways flight QR 654. The outlets say officers examined his luggage after detecting suspicious substances, then identified the contents as cocaine and ecstasy.

Newswire and Sri Lanka Mirror report that the luggage contained 5,121 grams of cocaine, valued at about Rs. 256 million, and 13,173 grams of ecstasy, equivalent to nearly 23,000 tablets and valued at about Rs. 198 million. They put the combined estimated value at Rs. 454 million. Sri Lanka Mirror reports that Customs called the ecstasy seizure the largest of its kind in Sri Lanka so far.

Newswire and Sri Lanka Mirror report that Customs has begun preliminary inquiries and expects to hand the passenger, the drugs and other relevant items to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation and legal action.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.