A Sri Lankan passenger was caught at Katunayake with thirty-eight pets brought from Thailand.

A Sri Lankan airline passenger has been taken into custody by authorities at Katunayake Airport with thirty-eight pet animals illegally brought into the country, violating both the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance and the Animal Diseases Ordinance. The suspect was arrested along with this consignment of animals, valued at approximately nine hundred and ninety-eight thousand rupees, during a search operation conducted by Katunayake Customs officers and Police Narcotics Bureau officers together in the early hours of the day before yesterday (26).

The individual caught by the law is a fifty-six-year-old resident of Digana, Kandy. It has been revealed that he arrived at Katunayake Airport in the early hours of the day before yesterday from Bangkok, Thailand, on Thai Airways flight TG 307.

These animals were discovered in several cages cleverly hidden in the suspect passenger's luggage. It is reported that among them were pets belonging to species such as guinea pigs, squirrels, lovebirds, sugar gliders, and hedgehogs.

Katunayake Airport Customs officials have ordered the airline passenger to pay a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand rupees in connection with this illegal animal trafficking. Furthermore, authorities have taken steps to hand over the thirty-eight animals, illegally brought into the country, to Thai Airways for their return to Bangkok, Thailand.