18-year-old Canadian held at BIA with 35.265 kg hashish
Sri Lanka Customs arrested an 18-year-old Canadian nursing student at Bandaranaike International Airport on 23 June 2026 with 35.265 kg of hashish in two suitcases. Officials valued the 140-packet haul at over Rs352 million and were to hand her to the Police Narcotics Bureau for production before the Negombo court.
🇱🇰 Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake · Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Customs Narcotics Control Unit officers arrested an 18-year-old woman
with 36 kilograms of hashish at Bandaranaike International Airport.[1]The
suspect is an 18-year-old Canadian nursing student at a university in Toronto
who was apprehended on Monday night.[2]She had arrived in Sri Lanka from
Toronto via Dubai on Emirates flight EK 648 at about 10:40 p.m. on 23 June.[1]
Officials estimated the seized stock to be worth over 352 million rupees.[1]She had tried to leave the arrival terminal through the Green Channel for
passengers with nothing to declare.[2]She had used the airport’s Meet and
Greet facility, under which her luggage was collected from baggage claim and she
was escorted through the terminal.[2]Investigators said she had allegedly
agreed to carry the drugs for 12,500 Canadian dollars to support her studies and
travel expenses.[2]
Preliminary investigations were being carried out by the Customs Narcotics
Control Unit.[1]The suspect and the seized drugs were to be handed to the
Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation and legal proceedings.[1]She was due to be produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court on 24 June.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Ada Derana values the haul at over Rs352 million, Newswire and other accounts give Rs352.65 million, and Daily Mirror gives Rs350 million; this report uses Ada Derana's over Rs352 million figure.
Headlines round the haul to 36 kilograms while inspection reports give 35,265 grams; this report records the precise 35.265 kg.
The incident date of 23 June 2026 is taken from the 24 June publications saying arrival was at about 10:40 p.m. last night (23); Daily Mirror calls it Monday night although 23 June 2026 was a Tuesday.
No outcome of the scheduled 24 June production before the Negombo Magistrate's Court was reported in the opened sources.
Both opened accounts relay the Customs version; no statement from the suspect or defence was published.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Daily Mirror: A search of two suitcases found 35.265 kilograms of hashish in 140 packets.
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.
