COLOMBO, Nov 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lanka’s Police Special Task Force (STF), seized a 40-foot container with over 10 million sticks of cigarettes, valued at 1.3 billion rupees (3.96 million U.S. dollars), the police said, today.
The police said in a statement that, the cigarettes were illegally imported without paying the excise duty.
The STF seized the container, near the Kelanithissa Power Station, in Grandpass, the police said.
The STF also arrested a 65-year-old suspect, a resident of Makola, in connection with the case.
The suspect and the contraband were handed over to local police for further investigations, police said.
Sri Lankan law enforcement officials seize and destroy a large quantity of illegally imported cigarettes each year.– NNN-XINHUA
