Indian couple in sophisticated smuggling attempt of Kush worth Rs.24Mn nabbed at BIA

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana  
An Indian couple using a ‘sophisticated smuggling’ attempt to transport Cannabis variety ‘Kush’ worth over Rs.24 million from Bangkok to Colombo was nabbed by Sri Lanka Customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) yesterday morning.
Customs Narcotic Control Unit officials stationed at the BIA Arrival Terminal searched a foreign couple arriving from Thailand on suspicion and found the contraband carefully concealed in one of the check-in bags. Customs Spokesperson Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda said the sleuths found two kilos and 400 grams of Kush inside the bag, which had been valued at Rs.24 million. Presently, a gram of Kush has a street value of Rs.10,000. The couple of Indian origin had reportedly arrived in the country at 11.00 am yesterday on SriLankan Airlines flight UL 403 from Bangkok.   The officials found a special box designed under a false bottom of the baggage to conceal the drugs and the suspects had used a sophisticated method of covering it with camphor to evade the attention of airport sniffer dogs. Senior detective of the Customs Narcotic Control Unit told the Daily Mirror the couple had initially been asked by a third party in Bangkok to carry the baggage to India, which was said to be filled with gold.  
However, they had later been asked to transport the bag to Sri Lanka and wait in a hotel for three days before somebody would come and pick it up.   The couple in their early thirties was to be handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) officials at the BIA along with the narcotics.