Twenty-two Buddhist monks are in Sri Lankan police custody after customs officials discovered 110kg of high-grade cannabis concealed in their luggage, marking the largest drug bust at Colombo's main international airport. The seizure, valued at 1.1 billion rupees (approximately £2.5 million), represents the largest single detection of kush at the South Asian country's primary air travel hub, according to officials.
Details of the Seizure
The group, consisting mostly of junior monks in training from various temples across Sri Lanka, allegedly concealed the narcotic within false walls of their luggage. A Sri Lanka customs spokesperson stated that each monk carried about five kilograms of the potent cannabis strain known as kush. The monks had spent four days on holiday in Bangkok and were returning to Bandaranaike International Airport on Saturday when the drugs were discovered.
Video footage posted on social media showed the monks at the airport hiding their faces with their robes as they were taken into custody. The men were handed over to police and appeared before a magistrate on Sunday.
Investigation and Arrests
The local Daily News reported that the monks' trip had been sponsored, and their phones contained photographs of the group enjoying the holiday in lay clothing. In a related development, a 23rd monk, believed to have organized the trip, was arrested in a suburb of Colombo. According to police speaking to the BBC World Service's Sinhalese station, this monk, who was not on the trip, instructed the others that the parcels were a donation and that a van would collect them.
This incident follows a similar case in May last year, when a 21-year-old British woman, Charlotte May Lee from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested at the same airport with 46kg of the drug. Lee has maintained that the drugs were planted in her luggage without her knowledge. She was also traveling from Bangkok to Colombo.
Authorities continue to investigate the case, highlighting the ongoing challenges of drug trafficking through Sri Lanka's airports.
