Two Indian nationals have been arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport for allegedly attempting to bring a consignment of Chinese-manufactured cigarettes worth about Rs. 834,000 into Sri Lanka.
Officers of the Airport Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) detained the pair in the early hours of Tuesday, the Daily Mirror reported. The suspects are a 33-year-old man employed in the construction sector in India and a 38-year-old woman who works as a schoolteacher there.
Police said the two bought the cigarettes in China, travelled on to Singapore, and landed at Katunayake at around 12.25 a.m. on Singapore Airlines flight SQ-468.
The consignment was allegedly concealed inside three suitcases and consisted of 278 cartons holding 55,600 cigarettes of various Chinese brands — a standard 200 sticks to the carton.
Both suspects were due to be produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for further investigation.
A well-worn route
The arrest follows a long-running pattern of cigarette seizures at the airport, where the PNB and Sri Lanka Customs have intercepted repeated attempts to bring duty-unpaid stock in through passenger baggage.
Most recent cases have involved arrivals from the Gulf and Southeast Asia. A passenger arriving from Sharjah was held this month with cigarettes concealed in baggage, and a separate operation recovered 10,800 sticks in mid-August. Officers also detained two Chinese nationals in Colpetty over illicit cigarettes later in the month.
Cigarettes carry steep import duties in Sri Lanka, and the margin between overseas retail prices and the local taxed price is what drives the traffic. Smuggled stock also sits outside the health-warning and packaging rules that apply to the licensed market.
The Daily Mirror did not report whether the two suspects were travelling together as a couple or separately, and gave no indication of who the consignment was destined for.
Daily Mirror was the only verified newsroom carrying this arrest when the article was filed on Tuesday afternoon.
