22 Buddhist monks arrested at airport after record drug bust

Crime 22 Buddhist monks arrested at airport after record drug bust Updated on: April 27, 2026 / 6:15 AM EDT / CBS/AFP Add CBS News on Google Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested on Sunday at the main international airport with a record 242 pounds of powerful cannabis, officials said.A Sri Lanka Customs spokesman said the group, returning home after a four-day vacation in the Thai capital, had Kush -- a potent, plant-based strain of cannabis -- hidden in their luggage."Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage," the spokesman said, adding that the monks had been handed over to police.They were to be taken before a magistrate later on Sunday.The monks were mostly young students from temples across Sri Lanka and had been on a holiday sponsored by a businessman.Customs officials said it was the largest single detection of Kush at the South Asian country's main international airport. Sri Lankan monks arrive to appear before a court after their arrest in Negombo on April 26, 2026, after 22 of them were arrested at the airport with 242 pounds of powerful cannabis, officials said. Ishara S. KODIKARA /AFP via Getty Images Last May, 21-year-old British woman was arrested with 101 pounds of the drug at the same airport. The woman, identified as Charlotte May Lee, said she had traveled from Bangkok to Colombo to renew her Thai visa. The BBC reported that she denied knowledge of drugs in her luggage, and claimed they were planted at her hotel in Bangkok. In June 2025, Sri Lanka's customs authorities arrested a woman and seized the largest haul of cocaine ever detected at the country's main airport. Officials said the unnamed 38-year-old Thai woman was carrying about 22 pounds of cocaine stuffed into three plush toys.Sri Lankan authorities have also made several detections of large hauls of heroin and other narcotics smuggled in via small fishing boats in recent years.The latest arrests aren'...