Lankan nabbed with gemstone valued at Rs.10mn at BIA

A 33-year-old man was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) this morning for attempting smuggle a rare gemstone worth Rs.10 million to Abu Dhabi, BIA Deputy Customs Director Parakrama Basnayake said.

“The gemstone was found concealed in a purse inside his hand luggage. The customs officials had identified the precious stone as ‘natural vivid red ruby,", he said.

The stone was confiscated and customs imposed a penalty of Rs. 100,000 on the suspect who was later released.

The investigation was carried out on the instruction of Deputy Customs Director Parakrama Basnayake.

The raid was carried out by Customs Superintendents G.S. Chandrasiri and Ananda Rathkumbura and Assistant Superintendents Tensan Kumara, U.D.A. Monty, Buddika Nishantha, Praveen Indranama, Ms. Melani Madubhashini and Sampath Rajapaksa. (Chaturanga Pradeep)