appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Agence France-Presse

Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested on Sunday at the main international airport with 110kg (242lbs) of powerful cannabis, officials said.
A Sri Lanka Customs spokesman said the group, returning home after a four-day holiday in the Thai capital, had kush – a potent, plant-based strain of cannabis – hidden in their luggage.
“Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage,” the spokesman said, adding that the monks had been handed over to police.
They were taken before a magistrate later on Sunday and ordered to stay in remand for seven days for further investigation.

The monks were mostly young students from temples across Sri Lanka and had been on a holiday sponsored by a businessman.
Three of the monks had recruited the rest via social media by promising them free airfare, accommodation and meals, according to Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror.
The recruits were reportedly told they were carrying “educational materials and sweets” for schoolchildren.
Customs officials said it was the largest single detection of kush at the South Asian country’s main international airport. They estimated its street value at over 1.1 billion rupees (US$3.5 million).
Anti-narcotics police have arrested the alleged mastermind from the Meegahamulla area of Gampaha, according to the Daily Mirror.

The group is believed to have carried out a similar operation involving 12 monks last month and was planning another trip.
A 21-year-old British woman was arrested in May last year with 46kg of the drug at the same airport. She was also travelling to Colombo from Bangkok.
Sri Lankan authorities have also made several detections of large hauls of heroin and other narcotics smuggled in via small fishing boats in recent years.
Additional reporting by SCMP’s Asia desk


Sri Lanka arrests 22 monks with US$3.5 million worth of cannabis in record haul

Chinese drone discovery sharpens focus on Asia’s undersea security race

Why US interception of Iran tankers in Asian waters pose new risk to Asean neutrality

US intercepts 3 Iranian tankers near India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka amid Hormuz tensions

Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan monks arrive at court after their arrest in Negombo on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Sri Lankan monks are taken to a detention centre in Colombo after a court hearing in Negombo on Sunday. Photo: AFP

The suspects cover their faces as they arrive in court on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Sri Lanka’s refusal to host US warplanes before Iran war risks trade backlash

A US F-35C Lightning II prepares to land on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on March 3. It is not clear which warplanes the US asked Sri Lanka to host. Photo: US Navy/AFP

A Sri Lankan naval vessel approaches the Iranian vessel IRIS Bushehr on March 5, a day after the Iranian military ship IRIS Dena was torpedoed off the island’s coast. Photo: Sri Lanka Navy/Reuters

Motorists wait in long queues to refuel their vehicles at a petrol station on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 15. Photo: AFP

An aerial view of Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Photo: US Navy/AP

Iran’s stranded sailors wait out the war in Sri Lanka amid US pressure

Medical personnel and Sri Lanka Navy sailors provide emergency treatment to an injured Iranian rescued from the IRIS Dena on March 4. Photo: Sri Lanka Navy/Reuters

Sri Lanka Navy personnel assist Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena after responding to a distress call on March 4. Photo: Sri Lanka Navy/Reuters

A member of staff from the Iranian embassy in Sri Lanka reacts on Thursday while standing in front of the hospital where injured sailors are receiving treatment. Photo: Reuters

Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaks at a news conference in Colombo March 5. Photo: Sri Lankan President Media Division/Xinhua

A Sri Lankan Muslim man holds a placard during a protest in Colombo on Friday against US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Photo: AP

US sinking of Iranian warship near Sri Lanka sparks regional anxiety, pressure on India

Iranian warship IRIS Dena is seen in the Bay of Bengal during the International Fleet Review held at Visakhapatnam, India, on February 18. Photo: AP

A frame grab from a video shows what the US Department of Defence says is periscope footage of a US Navy submarine firing on and sinking an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. Photo: US Department of Defence / AFP

A man checks the local newspaper, following a submarine attack on the Iranian military ship, IRIS Dena, off the coast of Sri Lanka, in Galle, Sri Lanka, on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Outrage in South Korea over ‘importing virgins’ proposal to raise birth rate

Nurses take care of babies at a postnatal care centre in Seoul. South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world. Photo: EPA-EFE

Fathers in South Korea hold their newborn babies at a hospital in Goyang, near Seoul. Photo: EPA-EFE

Asia’s floods kill over 1,000, lay bare human cost of climate inaction

People walk past the ruins of houses in a village affected by heavy flooding in Batang Toru, Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, on Wednesday. Photo: AP

A gas-fired power plant is seen in the US state of Pennsylvania on November 19. Photo: Reuters

A man clears debris from outside his house on Wednesday in a village affected by floods in Batang Toru, Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. Photo: AP

An aerial view of submerged homes in Niyamgamdora, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday following heavy rainfall caused by Cyclone Ditwah. Photo: Reuters

News

Asia

South Asia

Each monk was found with 5kg of kush concealed within false walls in his luggage at Colombo airport


Each monk was found with 5kg of kush concealed within false walls in his luggage at Colombo airport.


Drugs

Thailand

Crime

Sri Lanka arrests 22 monks with US$3.5 million worth of cannabis in record haul

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Each monk was found with 5kg of kush concealed within false walls in his luggage at Colombo airport

Each monk was found with 5kg of kush concealed within false walls in his luggage at Colombo airport