Sri Lanka Customs destroyed a consignment of 2,802,960 smuggled cigarettes on Thursday, with an estimated commercial value of Rs. 677,069,105, NewsFirst and the Daily Mirror both reported.
The stock was incinerated at the power plant at Kerawalapitiya, north of Colombo.
The cigarettes were not seized in a single operation. Customs officers took them in a series of detections at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake between 22 April and 27 July 2026 — a window of just over three months — as part of enforcement against illegal cigarette importation and the associated tax fraud. Thursday’s destruction is the disposal of that accumulated stock, not a new seizure.
The revenue number is the larger figure
The Daily Mirror reported that the estimated tax revenue loss associated with the consignment came to Rs. 439,701,206 — roughly 65 percent of the commercial value.
That ratio reflects how heavily cigarettes are taxed in Sri Lanka, and it is why air passenger routes are a persistent smuggling channel: the margin on evading duty is most of the retail price. Tobacco taxation has been a recurring revenue question, with Verité Research having estimated a Rs. 25 billion annual loss from cigarette tax policy earlier this year.
Not reported
Neither filing names any individuals arrested or charged in connection with the seizures, states how many separate detections made up the consignment, or says whether prosecutions are pending. Neither outlet reports the country of origin of the cigarettes or the brands involved.