COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan authorities have seized nearly half a ton of crystal methamphetamine concealed in a shipping container at the Port of Colombo and arrested several people, including three Pakistani nationals, in one of the country’s largest recent narcotics seizures.
Police sources say Pakistan-linked drug trafficking has become a growing concern in Sri Lanka, with the number of major narcotics cases involving Pakistani nationals and networks rising sharply in recent years.
The drugs, commonly known in Sri Lanka as “Ice,” were discovered on Monday, Aug. 31, hidden among towels inside a container that had arrived from Pakistan and was being held at the Colombo port under arrangements for re-export, according to police and local reports.
Sri Lanka Police said Tuesday that 463 kilograms of methamphetamine had been recovered. Estimates of its street value range from more than 8 billion Sri Lankan rupees to more than 15 billion rupees.
The operation began after Senior Deputy Inspector General Ranmal Kodituwakku received intelligence about a suspicious container at the port. An official police statement said the information had come from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
Investigators from the Central Crime Investigation Bureau obtained a court order and, working with the Police Narcotics Bureau and Sri Lanka Customs, opened the container Monday afternoon.
Inside, officers found tightly packed quantities of methamphetamine carefully concealed among a shipment of towels, according to police.
A 44-year-old businessman from Dematagoda, who police said was responsible for bringing the container into Sri Lanka, was arrested. Further questioning led investigators to three Pakistani nationals, aged 33, 36 and 51, who were also taken into custody.
A police source familiar with the investigation identified the arrested businessman to Jaffna Monitor as Arumugam Sasinthiran, 44, of Dematagoda.
Police said the suspects and the seized drugs had been transferred to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation.
The arrests have focused attention on a trafficking route that has long concerned Sri Lankan narcotics investigators.
Sri Lanka’s position along major Indian Ocean shipping lanes has made the island both a destination and a potential transit point for narcotics moving across South Asia and onward to other regions. Pakistan has repeatedly surfaced in investigations involving international drug consignments reaching Sri Lanka, particularly narcotics originating from or moving through the broader Southwest Asian trafficking network.
Police sources say the problem has become more acute as crystal methamphetamine has expanded rapidly in Sri Lanka’s illicit drug market. While heroin once dominated many major narcotics investigations, “Ice” has become an increasingly significant part of the trade.
Official figures underline the scale of that shift. Police recorded 68,132 arrests involving crystal methamphetamine in 2024, a 161 percent increase from the previous year. Authorities seized more than 1,360 kilograms of the drug that year.
The wider narcotics problem has also intensified. Sri Lankan police said they seized more than 23,692 kilograms of narcotics of various kinds in 2025, more than twice the quantity recorded in 2024. The figures include cannabis as well as heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs.
Police sources said Pakistan-linked international networks have become a particular concern because of the frequency with which Pakistani nationals, shipments originating in Pakistan or intermediaries operating between Pakistan, Dubai and Sri Lanka have surfaced in major investigations.
The container was brought from Pakistan to Colombo for re-export to Morocco. Police, however, suspect the re-export arrangement was a cover and that the methamphetamine was intended for distribution in Sri Lanka.
Investigators are also examining the suspected involvement of Sri Lankan traffickers operating from abroad and their connections with foreign suppliers.
The seizure comes as Sri Lankan authorities face an increasingly complex narcotics trade that stretches well beyond street-level dealing, encompassing maritime smuggling, commercial shipping containers, international financiers and trafficking figures operating from overseas.
The seizure has also raised concerns that international drug networks are exploiting Colombo’s position as a major regional transshipment hub to move large quantities of narcotics through legitimate commercial shipping routes.
Police said further investigations were underway to identify others involved in the network and determine whether the seized drugs were intended for the Sri Lankan market.
