Mother, daughter arrested with ice worth Rs.25.5 mn

A mother and daughter were arrested by Customs officers early morning, with more than one-kilogramme narcotic drug methamphetamine (ice) worth Rs.25.5 million, Customs Director and Acting Spokesman Lal Weerakoon said.

“The stock was concealed in two ceiling fan boxes,” he said.

He said the 68-year-old mother and the 36-year-old daughter were arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) by Customs officers while attempting to smuggle them into the country.
The suspects were residents from Wattala and Mattakkuliya and they arrived from Chennai, he said.

"The suspects were not frequent visitors to India but visit twice a month and used to bring sarees and other Indian goods to sell in Sri Lanka,” he said.

“However, this time around, the goods they brought were declared to the Customs as ceiling fans," he said.
"Due to the suspicious behaviour of the suspects, the Customs officers checked their parcels. The parcel which was carried by the mother included 1.5kg of ice worth Rs.15 million and the daughter carried 1.04kg of ice worth Rs. 10.4 in separate parcels," he said.

Both suspects were arrested at the green and red channels and would be handed over to the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) with the contraband.

Investigations were carried out by Customs Superintendents Eric Pereira, Loganathan, Bernard Sunith, Lal Silva and Rodrigo, Assistant Superintendents Manula Dharmaratna, Sri Lal Wijewardana, Channaka Welaratna, Rajitha Silva, Madhawa Weerakodi, Anupriya Gunawardana, Kushlani Perera, Buddika Dissanayake, Razeen under the guidance of Customs Additional Director General Saman Ranawana, BIA Customs Director Rajika Gankewala and under supervision of Deputy Director Generals K.H.P. Kumarasiri, Amitha Dodanwala and M. Wimalasena. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama and T.K.G. Kapila)