Foreign cigarettes worth over Rs. 2 mn seized at BIA

An individual was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) while attempting to smuggle over 20,000 sticks of foreign cigarettes worth more than Rs. 2 million into the country, police reported.

Accordingly, the stock of cigarettes was found upon inspection of the suspect’s luggage.

The passenger, who arrived from Dubai on Monday morning (11 Dec.), had reportedly been carrying 144 cartons of foreign cigarettes containing a total of 22,800 sticks of cigarettes.

The stock of cigarettes were subsequently taken into police custody, while the suspect, identified as a resident of Pussallewa in Gampola, is due to be produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court.