Dominican youth arrested at Katunayake with hashish worth 377 million

A foreign university student who brought a stock of hashish worth over 377 million rupees, or thirty-seven crore and seventy lakhs rupees, into the country has been arrested by customs officials at Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport. The arrested individual is a 23-year-old youth residing in the Dominican Republic.

This is reported to be the first instance in the history of Katunayake Airport where such a large quantity of hashish, with such a high value, has been taken into customs custody.

It has been revealed that this suspect student used the "Gold Route" terminal at the airport, which provides facilities for special passengers who pay for them, for drug trafficking. Airport customs officials state that this is also the first time an attempt has been made to bring drugs into the country via this special VIP terminal by paying an amount of 206 US dollars. The suspect's primary plan was to bypass customs inspections and take this stock of hashish out of the airport.

However, the luggage of passengers arriving from that special terminal was also subjected to inspection by airport customs officials using scanning machines (Scan Test), during which this stock of drugs was discovered. Hashish weighing 37 kilograms and 639 grams, packed in 146 packets cleverly concealed within two pieces of luggage belonging to the suspect, was thus found.

Initial investigations conducted by the Katunayake Airport Police Narcotics Bureau have revealed that he obtained this stock of drugs from Canada. The arrested Dominican university student and the stock of hashish found in his possession have been handed over to the officers of the Katunayake Airport Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigations.