Sri Lanka foils synthetic cannabis smuggling attempts
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities have seized nearly 60kg of potent synthetic cannabis that foreigners tried to smuggle in this month in three separate cases, a customs official said on Saturday (May 24).
The South Asian island has long been considered a transit point for international drug smugglers, and all three suspects - from Britain, India and Thailand - could face life imprisonment if convicted.
The 21-year-old British woman was arrested on May 12, with customs officers saying she was stopped with 46kg of kush - a synthetic drug containing powerful opioids - packed in two suitcases.
"This could be the biggest drug bust at the Colombo airport in recent times," said Customs Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda.
British media reports have identified the woman as Charlotte May Lee, a former cabin crew member from London, who had flown to Sri Lanka from Thailand.
She is being held in detention at a prison near Colombo airport.
The BBC reported that she denied knowledge of drugs in her luggage, and claimed they were planted at her hotel in Bangkok.
On May 16, a 33-year-old Indian man was arrested at the northern seaport of Kankesanthurai.
Arukgoda said that he had been carrying 4kg of kush.
He too has been handed over to the anti-narcotics police for further investigations.
On May 18, a 21-year-old Thai man was stopped at Colombo airport, who is accused of attempting to smuggle in nearly 8kg of kush.
Sri Lankan authorities have previously seized large quantities of heroin off its shores, saying it suggested the island is being used as a transit hub for narcotics being reshipped onward.
In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 111kg of heroin.
The men were among 17 arrested in Sri Lankan waters in April 2016 while transporting narcotics aboard an Iranian trawler.
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