Foreign cigarettes worth Rs. 3.54 million seized

By T.K.G. Kapila 

Colombo, May 23 (Daily Mirror) - A consignment of foreign cigarettes valued at Rs. 3.54 million was seized and a Sri Lankan passenger who attempted to smuggle it into the country was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) by the Airport Police in the early hours of this morning. 

The 21 year-old suspect is a businessman in the Yatiyantota area and he had purchased the stock of cigarettes from Dubai and flown to Sri Lanka through Doha in Qatar. 

Police arrested him on intelligence reports regarding the consignment of contraband when the suspect was about to leave the airport.

He was to be produced before the Negbombo magistrate today.
   
A police team under OIC Airport Police CI Elmo Malcolm Pate is conducting further investigations.