Overview
- The group, stopped at Bandaranaike International Airport on Saturday after a Bangkok flight, was found with about 110 kg of Kush hidden among school supplies and sweets inside false-bottom suitcases.
- A Negombo magistrate remanded the 22 for seven days until May 2 as investigators examine phones and trace how the shipment was arranged.
- Police later detained a 23rd monk accused of organizing the sponsor-paid trip and telling others the concealed parcels were donations.
- Officials valued the haul at roughly 1.1 billion rupees, calling it the largest drug detection in the airport’s history.
- Senior Buddhist leaders labeled the suspects impostors and urged tighter checks to stop abuse of monastic robes as police test for links to a wider trafficking network.