Customs seize largest ‘Magic Mushroom’ haul in history worth Rs.70Mn

Sri Lanka Customs today seized the largest stock of ‘Magic Mushrooms’ in history worth over Rs.70 million along with a stock of other narcotic drugs from a parcel courier service in Seeduwa. The parcels had been sent from the USA and the Netherlands.

Officials of the Customs Narcotic Control Unit followed an order to detain nine parcels that had arrived from the USA and the Netherlands a few weeks back, addressed to several local recipients.

When the officials found out that the parcels had been addressed to fake addresses in Colombo, Maharagama and Piliyandala they decided to open and examine them, sources at the Customs Narcotic Control Unit said.

They found 4 kilos of a Cannabis variant Kush, 300 grams of Magic Mushrooms, 2,000 tablets of Ecstasy (MDMA) and some intoxicated chocolates in the nine parcels.

Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as Magic Mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain psilocybin, which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. They are also used as recreational drugs.

Customs Spokesman Senior Director Sudaththa Silva said the contraband had been handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) for further investigations. (Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana)

Pix by T.K.G. Kapila