Sri Lanka customs make record cocaine bust at main airport
Sri Lankan customs officials arrested a woman on Friday after seizing the largest quantity of cocaine ever intercepted at the country's main international airport.
The suspect is a 38-year-old Thai national whose identity has not been disclosed.
They were found carrying nearly 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine concealed inside three soft toys, according to Customs Additional Director-General Seevali Arukgoda.
'This is the biggest attempt at cocaine smuggling stopped by Sri Lanka Customs at the airport,' Arukgoda said.
The cocaine was packed into over 500 plastic capsules and was discovered at Bandaranaike International Airport.
The capsules are estimated to have a street value of $1.72 million.
Customs officers posed with the seized drugs in official photos following the operation.
This bust comes amid a series of recent drug interceptions in Sri Lanka. Earlier in the month, customs officials confiscated nearly 60 kilograms of synthetic cannabis across three separate incidents. These led to the arrests of three foreign nationals from the UK, India, and Thailand.
The Thai woman apprehended on Friday could face life imprisonment if convicted under Sri Lanka's drug laws.
Sri Lanka has previously made major narcotics seizures, especially off its coast.
In one high-profile case last October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian nationals to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to smuggling over 111 kilograms of heroin. A similar case in 2023 saw nine other Iranians sentenced to life for drug trafficking.
The country's largest-ever single narcotics seizure occurred in December 2016, when customs discovered 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) of cocaine hidden in a timber shipment addressed to a company in neighboring India.
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