A 24-year-old Dominican national has been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for attempting to smuggle a stock of Hashish weighing 37 kilograms and 675 grams into the country.

Accordingly, the narcotics, which have an estimated street value of more than Rs. 375 million, were seized by Sri Lanka Customs officials.

The suspect was arrested by Customs officials at BIA last night (19) while attempting to enter the country through the ‘Gold Route’ passenger terminal, which provides special facilities for air passengers who pay for premium services.

It is also reported that this is the first time such a large consignment of Hashish has been seized at BIA.

The suspect had attempted to enter the country using the ‘Gold Route’ special air passenger terminal by paying a large sum of USD 206.

According to Ada Derana reporter, the suspect, a university student from the Dominican Republic, had obtained the Hashish narcotics stock from Canada, travelled via Dubai before arriving in Sri Lanka on an Emirates Airlines flight.

He had concealed the Hashish, weighing 37 kilograms and 675 grams, in 146 packets packed inside two pieces of luggage.

Steps have been taken to hand over the suspect and the Hashish narcotics to officers of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) at BIA for further investigations.