Sri Lanka customs officials arrested 22 Buddhist monks at Bandaranaike International Airport on April 26, 2026, seizing more than 110 kilograms of cannabis concealed in specially modified luggage, the largest drug detection ever recorded at the Colombo terminal.
“Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage,” a Sri Lanka Customs spokesman said. The monks, mostly young students from temples across Sri Lanka, had just returned from a four-day sponsored trip to Bangkok, Thailand.
Sri Lanka’s Police Narcotics Bureau, acting on a tip, intercepted the group upon landing. Officials said the Kush, a high-potency, plant-based strain of cannabis, was packed inside false-bottom suitcases alongside school supplies and sweets.
The government’s official news portal valued the haul at over $3.45 million (1.1 billion rupees).
A 23rd monk, who did not travel to Thailand, was arrested separately in a Colombo suburb and is suspected of organizing the operation. According to a police spokesman, that monk told the travelers “these parcels are a donation” and arranged for a van to collect the packages on arrival, the BBC reported.
A Sri Lankan court authorized seven days of detention for the alleged organizer for questioning, the Bangkok Post reported.
A Sri Lankan court has authorised the seven-day detention and questioning of a senior Buddhist monk accused of overseeing the smuggling of 110 kilogrammes of cannabis from Thailand in the luggage of 22 young monks.
Listen to the story or get the full story in the 1st comment pic.twitter.com/VXS8zh452O
— Bangkok Post (@BangkokPostNews) April 28, 2026
The 22 monks were remanded in custody until May 2, pending proceedings at Negombo Magistrate’s Court. Investigators are examining whether the network connects to local drug-running operations, according to state media. Sri Lanka’s drug laws permit indefinite detention without charge and carry lengthy prison sentences upon conviction.
The Mahanayake Theros of the Three Nikayas, the supreme Buddhist patriarchs who head Sri Lanka’s three main monastic orders, issued a formal condemnation of the accused. The prelates called the suspects “impostors” who exploited the sacred status of the Buddhist robe to facilitate drug trafficking, and said their actions brought “disrepute to the Buddhist monastic order and the historic role of Sri Lankan monks before the entire world.”
The arrest marks the first time Buddhist monks have been caught carrying illegal drugs at Bandaranaike Airport, state-owned Daily News reported. Authorities said the suspects’ phones contained photographs of the group on holiday in lay clothing.
Sri Lanka’s main international airport has seen a series of significant narcotics interceptions in recent years.
In May 2025, customs officials arrested 21-year-old British national Charlotte May Lee with 46 kilograms of Kush at the same terminal, also arriving from Bangkok. Lee said the drugs were planted in her luggage without her knowledge.
In June 2025, a 38-year-old Thai woman was arrested after customs found approximately 10 kilograms of cocaine stuffed inside three plush toys.
Large-scale drug incidents involving Buddhist monks are not without regional precedent.
In 2022, every monk at a temple in central Thailand was defrocked after testing positive for methamphetamine.
In 2017, Myanmar police said they found more than four million methamphetamine pills in the vehicle and monastery of a monk who was subsequently arrested.
The suspects are due back before Negombo Magistrate’s Court on May 2, 2026, as investigators work to establish the full scope of the trafficking network behind the operation.
