Two Brazilians arrested for swallowed cocaine capsules worth Rs. 23 m

Two Brazilian nationals have been arrested by the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) from the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Colombo for allegedly smuggling cocaine in 110 self-swallowed capsules, the police said yesterday.

The two Brazilians were arrested upon their arrival at BIA on different Qatar Airways flights from Doha by PNB officers based on an intelligence input.

A total of 110 capsules, containing 900g of pure cocaine worth Rs. 23 million, were recovered from the two suspects, the police said.

According to the police, 80 capsules of cocaine were extracted from the first suspect, who arrived Saturday night, after admitting him to the Negombo Hospital.

The 24-year-old second suspect who arrived last morning had also been admitted to the Negombo Hospital under police protection, and 30 cocaine capsules have been recovered from him. He is due to be presented before the Negombo Magistrate Court today.

The police had produced the first suspect arrested last night before the court and obtained an order to detain him for questioning for seven days.

The Police Narcotics Bureau is conducting further investigations.