Australian police have ended a homicide investigation that began with two ​members of the public on a ‌Sunday drive finding a dumped suitcase on the side of the road in a ​remote town, opening it up and ​finding what appeared to be remains ⁠of a human body.

Instead, forensic examinations ​later determined that “the item located in the ​bag was a lifelike doll, wearing clothing, with hair and a nose piercing,” police said in ​a statement on Monday.

“The item also ​had markings that resembled bruises and grazes,” it ‌said.

Called ⁠to Oallen, a town about 200 km (125 miles) south-west of Sydney, police officers established a crime scene but did not ​examine the ​contents ⁠too closely.

Superintendent Linda Bradbury told reporters that police “don’t like to ​disturb remains too much in situ, ​particularly ⁠when we have faced inclement weather, as we did yesterday and again today.”

The ⁠item ​was “very realistic in terms ​of looking like human remains,” she added. (Reuters)

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A suitcase containing over Rs. 110 million worth of Kush cannabis has been discovered in a warehouse at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake.

According to reports, the bag was found in a storage facility used to hold unclaimed or confiscated luggage and goods by airport customs officials.

Investigations have revealed that the bag had been abandoned by a passenger who arrived from Bangkok, Thailand, on a SriLankan Airlines flight on March 17.

The narcotics, weighing over 11 kilograms, had been concealed in polythene packages inside the bag. Ongoing investigations have confirmed the presence of a substantial quantity of Kush cannabis. (Newswire)

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A two-year-old girl has been found alive in a suitcase stored in a bus luggage compartment in New Zealand.

The bus driver noticed movement inside the bag during a planned stop in Kaiwaka – 60 miles north of Auckland – on Sunday after a passenger asked for access to the luggage compartment.

When the driver opened the suitcase, they discovered the girl.

The two-year-old was said to be “very hot, but otherwise appeared physically unharmed”, according to Detective Chief Simon Harrison.

The toddler was taken to hospital, where she remained on Sunday to undergo an extensive medical assessment.

Detectives did not say how long the girl was in the suitcase, or which cities the bus was travelling between.

A 27-year-old woman, who has not been named, was arrested and charged with ill-treatment or neglect of a child. DCI Harrison said further charges are not being ruled out.

The woman is due to appear in court on Monday, and children’s services have also been notified.

Entrada Travel Group, which operates New Zealand’s national bus line, InterCity, told Sky News’ US partner network NBC that the incident involved one of its buses.

“Police were called to respond and are investigating the matter. No one was harmed during the incident, and the service resumed,” the group said in its statement.

InterCity states on its website that children up to two years old can travel for free on an adult’s lap. Children aged three and older require a child ticket and need to travel with a guardian.

DCI Harrison praised the InterCity bus driver, “who noticed something wasn’t right and took immediate action, preventing what could have been a far worse outcome”. (Sky News)

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The Colombo High Court has sentenced to death a man who was convicted of the 2015 murder of a woman at a lodge in Sea Street, Colombo, and dumping her body stuffed in a suitcase at the Bastion Mawatha bus depot in Colombo.

The Attorney General had filed a case against the defendant, Patrick Krishnaraja, before the Colombo High Court, regarding the incident of the murder of a woman named Dharmaraja Karthika on July 29, 2015. 

After a lengthy trial, Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabendige announced the verdict and stated that the defendant was found guilty of the relevant charges.

The defendant, who appeared before the court before sentencing, stated that he was innocent of the charges. 

However, the judge stated in his verdict that since the charges levelled against the accused by the prosecution have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, he is found guilty of those charges and accordingly sentenced to death. (Newswire)

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