The South Asian island has traditionally been used as a transit point for international drug traffickers, and all three suspects – who are from Britain, India and Thailand – face life imprisonment if they are convicted. Sri Lankan officials have confiscated almost 60 kilograms of high-grade synthetic cannabis that foreigners attempted to smuggle in this month in three different cases, a customs officer reported Saturday.
The South Asian island has traditionally been used as a transit route by overseas drug smugglers, and all three suspects from Britain, India and Thailand might get life imprisonment if found guilty.
The 21-year-old British woman was detained on May 12, with customs officials stating that she was intercepted with 46 kilograms (101 pounds) of kush – a synthetic drug with potent opioids – hidden in two suitcases.
This is possibly the largest drug seizure at the Colombo airport in recent years,” commented Customs Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda. British media outlets have named the woman as Charlotte May Lee, who was a former cabin crew staff from London and had traveled from Thailand to Sri LankaIndia-Bangladesh land pact sparks political controversy.
She has been detained at a prison close to the Colombo airport. BBC reported that she claimed no knowledge of the drugs in her bags and that they had been planted at her hotel while she was staying in Bangkok.
A 33-year-old Indian man was arrested on May 16 at the seaport of Kankesanthurai in the north.He also has been sent to the anti-narcotics police for further investigation. On May 18, a 21-year-old Thai male was intercepted at Colombo airport and was charged with seeking to import almost eight kilograms of kush. Sri Lankan officials have in the past confiscated large amounts of heroin off its coast, attributing that it indicated that the island was being utilized as a transit point for narcotics to be reshipped further. In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to smuggling over 111 kilograms of heroin.
