Foreign passenger arrested with cigarettes at BIA
February 10, 2026 09:58 am
A 45-year-old foreign passenger has been arrested this morning (10) by airport customs officers at the arrivals terminal of Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) while carrying a consignment of foreign cigarettes.
Officials said the individual is an engineer working on a development project in Sri Lanka.
The seized consignment, consisting of 36,860 sticks of cigarettes manufactured for domestic use in Iran, is estimated to have a street value of Rs. 5.529 million.
The cigarettes were found in two pieces of luggage, officials said.
The passenger had arrived from Sharjah onboard Air Arabia flight G9502 at 4:24 a.m today.
Customs officers are conducting further investigations into the incident.
