A suspect has been arrested at Maligathanna in Weyangoda with 18,400 illegal cigarettes worth about Rs 2 million, following information passed to police by army intelligence.
The arrest was made on Saturday, Hiru News reported at 11:35 a.m. Colombo time on Sunday.
Acting on a tip-off received by the Army Intelligence branch, officers conducted a special raid jointly with Special Task Force officers from Gonahena. The suspect was taken into custody with the cigarettes, which police valued at approximately Rs 2 million — reported in the filing as Rs 20 lakh.
He has been handed over to Nungamuwa Police for further investigation and was due to be produced before the Attanagalla Magistrate’s Court on Sunday.
Context
Illegal cigarettes are a recurring enforcement target in Sri Lanka, where high excise duties on legal tobacco create a steady market for smuggled and counterfeit stock. This desk reported in October that Sri Lanka Customs destroyed a seized consignment valued at Rs 677 million, and has covered seizures running from a Navy and STF operation at Mullipuram in Puttalam to the arrest of a Malaysian national in Colombo.
The joint structure of this operation — a military intelligence tip acted on by the STF and handed to a territorial police station for prosecution — is the standard pattern for such raids.
Not reported
The filing does not identify the suspect, give his age or say where he is from. It does not state the brand or origin of the cigarettes, whether they were smuggled imports or counterfeits, or where they were being stored or transported. It does not say whether a vehicle was seized, whether anyone else is being sought, or what charges will be brought.
This report rests on a single source. No other verified newsroom had filed on the seizure at the time of writing, and the suspect has not been convicted of any offence.
