Twenty-Two Sri Lankan Monks Arrested At Airport Over Record 242lbs Cannabis Seizure
Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested at airport with record 242 pounds cannabis Kush drug
Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested at airport with record 242 pounds cannabis Kush drug
Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand have been arrested at the country’s main international airport after customs officials intercepted a record 242 pounds of a powerful strain of cannabis known as Kush, authorities said on Sunday.
A Sri Lanka Customs spokesperson confirmed that the group, who were returning from a four-day trip to Bangkok, had the narcotic carefully concealed in their luggage.
“Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage,” the spokesman said, adding that the discovery marked the largest single seizure of Kush ever recorded at Sri Lanka’s main international airport.
Officials said the drugs were detected during routine inspection procedures, after which the monks were immediately taken into custody and handed over to police for further investigation. They are expected to be produced before a magistrate later on Sunday.
According to officials, the group consisted mostly of young students attached to temples across Sri Lanka. They had reportedly travelled to Thailand on a holiday sponsored by a businessman, though authorities have not yet disclosed the identity of the sponsor.
Customs authorities described the seizure as unprecedented, noting its scale and the method used to conceal the drugs.
In a related case highlighting ongoing concerns over narcotics trafficking through the airport, a 21-year-old British woman was arrested in May last year with 101 pounds of the same substance at the same facility.
The woman, identified as Charlotte May Lee, said she had travelled from Bangkok to Colombo to renew her Thai visa. She denied any knowledge of the drugs found in her luggage, claiming they may have been planted at her hotel in Bangkok.
Investigations into Sunday’s arrest are ongoing as authorities work to determine the origin of the consignment and whether there are wider trafficking links involved.
