A 30-year-old man has been arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake over an alleged attempt to smuggle foreign-manufactured cigarettes worth about Rs. 6 million into the country.
The arrest was made by officers of the Airport Police Narcotics Bureau, NewsFirst reported. The suspect had arrived in Sri Lanka from Dubai, and the cigarettes were concealed in his luggage.
Police did not release the suspect’s nationality or home town, the flight he arrived on, or the number of cartons recovered. No information was given on whether he has been produced in court or dealt with by way of a fine.
A steady run of airport detections
Cigarette smuggling through BIA has been among the most frequently detected offences at the airport this year. The gap between duty-paid local prices and the cost of cigarettes bought abroad — Sri Lanka applies heavy excise duties on tobacco, and passengers face a strict personal allowance — makes undeclared cartons in checked baggage a persistent target for enforcement.
The detection follows a Chinese woman arrested on August 3 with 102 cartons valued at about Rs. 3.06 million, and a foreign businessman stopped on August 1 arriving from Chennai with 197 cartons worth Rs. 5.91 million, who was released after paying a Rs. 250,000 fine. In late July, a Marawila businessman was detained after flying in from Dubai with 31,000 cigarette sticks worth Rs. 4.65 million.
Most such cases are handled by Sri Lanka Customs and settled administratively. Friday’s arrest, like the August 3 case, was made by the police narcotics unit at the airport rather than by Customs.
