An Indian national has been taken into custody by Sri Lanka Customs at Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, carrying cocaine and ecstasy with an estimated street value of Rs. 454 million.
Officers of the Narcotics Control Unit of Sri Lanka Customs stopped the passenger for further examination after suspicious substances were detected in his luggage, the Daily Mirror reported at 7.43 a.m. NewsFirst reported the seizure at 9.20 a.m.
What was found
A subsequent inspection confirmed the consignment held:
- 5,121 grammes of cocaine, valued at about Rs. 256 million
- 13,173 grammes of ecstasy — equivalent to nearly 23,000 pills — valued at about Rs. 198 million
The two valuations sum exactly to the Rs. 454 million total both outlets report. The weights and both component valuations are identical in the two accounts.
The passenger
The suspect is 46 years old and an engineer by profession, according to the Daily Mirror. He arrived from Paris via Doha on Qatar Airways flight QR 654 on 28 October 2026 — the day before the seizure was announced.
Those details appear only in the Daily Mirror’s filing; NewsFirst reports the seizure and the valuations without the passenger’s age, occupation, routing or flight.
Sri Lanka Customs has begun preliminary investigations. The suspect, the narcotics and other case productions are to be handed to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation and legal action.
Context
The quantity is large by the standards of airport seizures reported here this month. Police told a briefing today that cocaine seizures across the past two years total 333 kg, and that possession of more than five grammes of cocaine can carry the death penalty or life imprisonment on conviction before the High Court. A single 5.1 kg consignment is more than a thousand times that threshold.
Katunayake has produced a steady run of narcotics arrests: an Indian national was held this month with Rs. 51 million of Kush, and three Thai nationals were detained in mid-October with hashish of similar value. Those involved different drugs, nationalities and origin airports, and are separate cases.
Not reported
Neither filing names the suspect, says whether he has been produced in court or what charges are contemplated, or reports whether he has legal representation. Neither says how the substances were concealed, whether Sri Lanka was the intended destination or a transit point, or whether anyone was waiting to receive the consignment. Neither gives the basis for the valuations, and neither says whether the ecstasy pill count is a measured figure or an estimate derived from the weight.
No allegation has been tested in court, and the suspect has not been convicted of any offence.
The photograph carried by NewsFirst shows officers in Customs uniform examining items on a table against a trilingual Sri Lanka Customs backdrop, consistent with the media display of a seizure that both filings describe.
