Two women have been arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport with 5 kilograms and 372 grams of the synthetic cannabinoid known as “Kush”, NewsFirst reported.
The pair were detained while attempting to leave the country. They are aged 33 and 35 and are residents of the Dematagoda and Thotagala areas.
The narcotics had been concealed inside two items of luggage the suspects were carrying.
Outbound, not inbound
The direction of travel is the notable detail. The great majority of Kush seizures at the airport have involved arrivals — couriers bringing the drug into Sri Lanka, most often on routes from Bangkok. Recent cases include an Indian national held with Kush arriving from Bangkok, a photographer detained with Rs. 25 million worth on the same route, and two passengers stopped with 14kg.
An outbound interception raises a different question — whether Sri Lanka is being used as a transit point rather than solely as a destination market. NewsFirst does not say where the two women were travelling to, so that reading cannot be confirmed from this report.
The second BIA narcotics case in three days
The arrest follows the detention on Monday of two Thai nationals carrying Kush and hashish valued at Rs. 51.37 million, seized by the Customs Narcotics Control Unit at the Green Channel.
Kush has featured repeatedly in trafficking cases through the airport over the past several months, and the drug has also surfaced in domestic enforcement — including an arrest in Ahungalla involving ice, heroin and Kush and an STF operation in Hokandara.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not name the arresting agency — the airport has separate Customs Narcotics Control Unit, Police Narcotics Bureau and airport police units, and past reporting has shown seizures can involve a handover between them. It gives no street value for the consignment, no destination or flight, no time of arrest, and does not say whether the two women were travelling together or were stopped separately. It does not say whether they have been produced before a magistrate, what charges they face, or whether further arrests are expected.
No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had carried the arrest at the time of writing: neither the Daily Mirror nor Hiru News had filed on it, and Ada Derana was unreachable, returning a server-side block across the whole domain. This report therefore rests on a single newsroom.
