Sri Lanka Customs officials arrested a Chinese businessman at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on Sunday after he allegedly tried to smuggle a large consignment of foreign-manufactured cigarettes through the Green Channel.
According to Customs, the suspect arrived at BIA at around 1:00 a.m. on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok, having travelled from China via Bangkok. A search of his luggage uncovered 440 cartons containing 88,000 sticks of Chinese-manufactured cigarettes concealed inside, Ada Derana reported. The stock is estimated to be worth about Rs. 13 million.
The Green Channel is designated for passengers who have nothing to declare, and using it to move undeclared dutiable goods is a recurring pattern in cigarette smuggling cases at the airport. The suspect has been taken into Customs custody and investigations are continuing.
Sunday’s arrest is the latest in a sustained run of Chinese-national cigarette seizures at BIA over the past two months. Customs intercepted a 35-year-old Chinese national in April carrying nearly 230,000 cigarettes worth Rs. 34.47 million off another Thai Airways flight from Bangkok, three Chinese nationals carrying Rs. 6.6 million worth of cigarettes in late May, 14 Chinese nationals with cigarettes valued at Rs. 20.7 million on May 28, a 13-strong group on June 2 carrying Rs. 28 million worth of cigarettes from Bangkok, three more Chinese nationals with Rs. 8.3 million worth on June 4 and another 13-person group routed via Kuala Lumpur with Rs. 30 million worth of cigarettes on June 18.
The pattern shows organised groups using both Thai Airways flights from Bangkok and Malaysia Airlines flights from Kuala Lumpur as staging routes into Colombo, with cartons concealed in checked luggage and the Green Channel attempted as the bypass mechanism.
