A shipment of illegal cigarettes worth over Rs.20 million had been seized by the officers of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) while transporting them in a container lorry near the Wimaladharma Clock Tower in Colombo yesterday, police spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekera said.

He said the contraband had been imported from Dubai under the guise of importing ship spare parts.

During the investigations, the PNB officers had found 400,000 cigarette sticks, he said.

The driver of the container lorry had been arrested and a special investigation was underway to arrest the main suspect who was a businessman from Wattala area, the spokesman added. (Darshana Sanjeewa and T.K.G. Kapila)

Pix by T.K.G. Kapila