The seized cigarettes.
A passenger who was illegally bringing into the country a consignment of foreign-made cigarettes worth nearly Rs. 2.97 million and was in the process of walking out of the Katunayake Airport, when he was arrested by a group of officers from the Airport Police Narcotics Bureau on the night of Wednesday (8).
He was a 34-year-old resident of Weppamadu, Puttalam, and had been returning to Sri Lanka after completing a two-year stint in Dubai.
He had arrived at the Katunayake Airport on Emirates flight EK-652 from Dubai at around 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday (8).
He had been arrested by the Police Narcotics Bureau officers while concealing 99 cigarette cartons containing 19,800 foreign-made ‘Platinum’ cigarettes in his luggage.
This passenger has now been released on Police bail and he and the consignment of cigarettes are scheduled to be produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court on January 15.
T. K. G. Kapila