The Sri Lanka Navy has recovered a consignment of smuggled dried turmeric weighing about 1,038kg during a coastal search operation at Thillayadi beach, Kalpitiya, on Wednesday.
Personnel from SLNS Vijaya of the Northwestern Naval Command patrolled the shoreline and seized 26 suspicious sacks of turmeric from the beach vicinity, the Navy said. The entire consignment, together with any related items, was handed over to the Kalpitiya Police Station for onward legal action.
Coastal seizures of turmeric have been a recurring enforcement line for the Navy along the northwestern coast, where trafficking from Indian waters has periodically driven local price volatility. The government banned turmeric imports in 2020 to boost domestic cultivation, creating a premium for smuggled stock.
Source: Newswire.
