Two women, man arrested with 400 cigarette cartons

Two women and a man were arrested while trying to smuggle in cigarette cartons, valued at Rs.2.8 million, into the country this morning, Deputy Customs Director Parakrama Basnayake said.

The suspects were arrested by customs officials when they arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport from Dubai.

During the inspection customs found 400 cartons, packed with 80,000 sticks, in four bags.

The women suspects were identified as a 40 and 32 year old sisters from Homagama while the 40 year-old man is from Matale. One of the women owns a beauty parlor while the other runs a business in Homagama.

“The youth must have been involved in smuggling cigarettes and could have been using the two women as transporters,” Mr. Basnayaka said.

Investigations were carried out under the instruction of the Deputy Customs Director Parakrama Basnayake and the raid was conducted by the Assistant Customs Directors Anton Fernando, Pradeep Fonseka, Ajith Hettige, Ravi Samarasinghe, Chandima Thanthiriwatta. (Chaturanga Pradeep and Ranjith Ferdinandus)