Dominican student held at Colombo airport with 37.6 kg of hashish
Sri Lanka Customs arrested a 23-year-old Dominican national who studies in Toronto after finding 37.639 kg of hashish in two suitcases at Bandaranaike International Airport on 19 June 2026. Customs valued the hashish at Rs. 376.39 million and handed the suspect and the drugs to the Police Narcotics Bureau.
🇱🇰 Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake · Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Customs officers arrested a 23-year-old Dominican national studying in
Toronto, Canada, at Bandaranaike International Airport after detecting 37.639
kilograms of hashish in his luggage.[1]The suspect had arrived in Sri Lanka
from Dubai on Emirates flight EK648 at 11.15 p.m. on Friday 19 June 2026.[1]
Customs officers found 146 parcels of hashish hidden inside two suitcases.[1]Customs put the street value of the seized hashish at Rs. 376.39 million.[1]
The suspect and the hashish were handed to the Police Narcotics Bureau in Sri
Lanka, or PNB, for further investigation.[1]
Photos and video
Photo published at the top of the Newswire report on the 37.639 kg hashish detection at Bandaranaike International Airport, with no caption or credit identifying what it shows.Photo details
Newswirenewswire.lkDominican national arrested at BIA with over Rs. 376 mn hashish haul
Open questions the AI reported
Only one account of the detection could be opened; no separate Customs statement, Police Narcotics Bureau statement or second outlet report in English or Sinhala confirmed the figures.
The article gives no separate charge or court production; it says only that the suspect and the drugs were handed to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation.
The 37.639 kilograms is described as hashish by Customs with no laboratory confirmation reported; it is recorded as 37.639 kg of hashish.
The value of Rs. 376.39 million is Customs' own street-value estimate, not a market figure verified independently.
The suspect is described only by age and nationality; no name, plea or court outcome was published.
The page photo has no caption or credit and is not confirmed to show this seizure; it is linked but not copied.
Galle District Crime Division officers arrested a 41-year-old Unawatuna resident in a local raid and recovered over 125 grams of Kush alongside crystal methamphetamine. Police said further investigations into the possession case were underway.
A man detained while taking part in the sit-in against the Anuradhapura Sacred City Development Plan, on a charge of obstructing police duties, has been found to have used both heroin and cannabis. Two civilians were arrested over the confrontation between police and Buddhist monks near the Ruwanweli Maha Seya stupa.
Airport Police Narcotics Bureau officers arrested a 37-year-old Indian businessman at Bandaranaike International Airport early on 7 November 2026 as he allegedly tried to smuggle kush and hashish out of Sri Lanka. They found 2.102 kg of kush in tins labelled as tamarind toffees and 5.26 kg of hashish shaped like toffees, which police valued at about Rs 231.42 million.
Police in Madiwela, Kotte, arrested a 25-year-old local resident in a night raid on 6 November 2026 and seized 558 grams of Kush, a cannabis product, along with heroin and crystal methamphetamine. The Western Province North Crime Division, which ran the raid on received information, said investigations were continuing.
