Your web browser is not fully supported by CBS News and CBSNews.com. For optimal experience and full features, please upgrade to a modern browser. You can get the new Microsoft Edge at microsoft.com/edge, available to download on all versions of Windows in more than 90 languages. '; document.getElementById('ieblock').setAttribute('style', 'background-color: #B60505; color: #F5F5F5; font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif; padding: 100px 100px'); } Latest U.S. Iran War Midterms World Politics Entertainment HealthWatch MoneyWatch Crime Space Sports Brand Studio The Free Press Local News Atlanta Baltimore Bay Area Boston Chicago Colorado Detroit Los Angeles Miami Minnesota New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh Sacramento Texas Live CBS News 24/7 Baltimore Bay Area Boston Chicago Colorado Detroit Los Angeles Miami Minnesota New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh Sacramento Texas 48 Hours 60 Minutes Shows 48 Hours 60 Minutes CBS Evening News CBS Mornings CBS Morning News CBS Reports CBS Saturday Morning The Daily Report The Dish Face the Nation Sunday Morning The Takeout Things That Matter The Uplift CBS News Investigates CBS News Confirmed Podcasts Newsletters Download Our App CBS News Team Executive Team Brand Studio Paramount+ Join Our Talent Community RSS Feeds U.S. Iran War Midterms World Politics HealthWatch MoneyWatch Entertainment Crime Sports The Free Press Watch CBS News
Updated on: April 27, 2026 / 6:15 AM EDT / CBS/AFP
Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested on Sunday at the main international airport in Sri Lanka 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 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.
Last May, a 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't the first time monks have run afoul of drug laws.
In 2022, every single monk at a Buddhist temple in central Thailand was defrocked after they tested positive for methamphetamine. The monks were sent to a health clinic to undergo drug rehabilitation.
In 2017, police said a Buddhist monk was arrested in Myanmar after authorities found more than 4 million meth pills in his car and in his monastery.
© 2026 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
Copyright ©2026 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.
Loading comments…