Swiftlet nests found on passenger

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

More than 44 kilograms of swiftlet nests were taken into custody by Customs officers early yesterday morning at the BIA.

The swiftlet nests were taken into custody by Customs officers when they checked a local passenger bound for Malaysia.

When the suspect was about to be subjected to Customs checking, he tried to avoid and became fidgety. Customs officials found a large quantity of swiftlet nests inside three travelling bags belonging to the traveller. The value of these swiftlet nests in the foreign markets is estimated to be over Rs. 10 million and more than 10,000 swiftlet nests might have been used to prepare this quantity, Deputy Director of Sri Lanka Customs Mali Piyasena said.

According to Customs sources, the same suspect had earlier been taken into custody by the Customs when he was trying to board a flight with 36 kilograms of swiftlet nests on August 19.