The Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) has arrested two suspected drug mules at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake for trying to smuggle in heroin capsules they had ingested.

The 67-year-old woman and 44-year-old male were apprehended upon arriving in the country at 1.25 p.m. yesterday (26).

They had reportedly flown from Lahore, Pakistan to Dubai and then taken another flight to Sri Lanka in an attempt to avoid the heavy security checks which passengers and goods arriving in the country from Pakistan are subjected.

The Pakistani couple was arrested after it was uncovered that they had swallowed heroin capsules in order to smuggle them into the country.

The arrested suspects were taken to the Negombo Hospital where the capsules were removed from their stomach.

Police said that so far 35 heroin capsules, containing 350 grams of heroin, valued at Rs 4.2 million, which had been ingested by the woman have been recovered as of this morning.

A high ranking officer of the PNB said that the capsules had contained an adulterated form of heroin knows as ‘brown sugar’.

Meanwhile it has been revealed that the Pakistani woman in question had visited Sri Lanka on 6 previous occasions and that the male was a first time visitor to the country.

The PNB is taking steps to seek the court’s permission to detain the suspects for 7 days and interrogate them.