Sri Lanka seizes largest cocaine haul at main airport
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's customs authorities arrested on Friday a woman and seized the largest haul of cocaine ever detected at the country's main international airport, an official said.
The unnamed 38-year-old Thai woman was carrying nearly 10 kilogrammes (22 pounds) of cocaine stuffed into three soft toys, Customs Additional Director-General Seevali Arukgoda said.
"This is the biggest attempt at cocaine smuggling stopped by Sri Lanka Customs at the airport," Arukgoda said in a statement.
Customs officials at Bandaranaike International Airport posed for photos with the cocaine, which had been neatly stuffed into just over 500 plastic capsules, with an estimated street value of $1.72 million.
The seizure follows three other hauls this month totalling nearly 60 kilogrammes of synthetic cannabis.
Three foreign nationals —- from Britain, India, and Thailand -- were arrested in separate cases.
The Briton, identified as Charlotte May Lee, 21, a former cabin crew member from London, was produced before a magistrate on Friday and further remanded until June 13, court officials said.
She was arrested on May 12 when officials discovered that her two suitcases were packed with 46 kilogrammes of kush, a synthetic drug.
All four suspects, including the Thai woman arrested on Friday, could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Sri Lankan authorities have previously seized large quantities of heroin off the country's shores, suggesting the island is being used as a transit hub for narcotics destined for other locations.
In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 111 kilogrammes of heroin. In 2023, nine Iranians received life sentences in a separate drug smuggling case.
Sri Lanka's largest single seizure of narcotics occurred in December 2016, when Customs found 800 kilogramme (1,760 pounds) of cocaine in a transhipment container of timber addressed to a company in neighbouring India.
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