The Narcotics Control Unit of Sri Lanka Customs has arrested a Spanish national found carrying a consignment of cocaine with an estimated street value of nearly Rs. 110 million at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake.
The suspect was identified as a 79-year-old man who works as an agricultural engineer, according to Ada Derana and NewsFirst. Customs officers detained him after examining his baggage on arrival at the airport.
Investigators said the man had arrived in Sri Lanka on July 22 from Sierra Leone, travelling via Addis Ababa and Doha on Qatar Airways flight QR 654. The routing through multiple transit points is a pattern customs officials have repeatedly flagged in cocaine-trafficking attempts intercepted at the airport.
The seized narcotics have been taken into custody for further investigation, and the suspect is being questioned by customs and narcotics officers. Sri Lanka Customs has not yet disclosed the exact quantity of the consignment.
The arrest is the latest in a series of cocaine seizures at BIA in recent weeks, as enforcement agencies report increased attempts to move the drug through Sri Lanka. Officials say couriers of varying ages and nationalities are being recruited by trafficking networks that use commercial flights and layovers in West Africa and the Gulf to disguise the origin of shipments. The investigation into the latest case is continuing.
