Six members of same family detained at BIA

Six Sri Lankan passengers, who are members of the same family, have been detained by customs officers at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake for attempting to bring a stock of items into the country illegally.

The passengers include a man, his wife, their son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren while they were detained upon arriving in the country from Chennai at 6.00 p.m. last evening.

Sri Lanka Customs media spokesman Sunil Jayaratne said that a stock of perfumes and cosmetic products worth around Rs 1 million, brought into the country without the approval of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), 25 cartons of foreign cigarettes, 30 cartons of snuff (tobacco product) and 30 bottles of whiskey were found in the luggage of the suspects.

 The stock of cigarettes, snuff and whiskey bottle were confiscated following the customs inquiry while the passengers were allowed to produce a license for the perfumes and cosmetic products.