Goods ordered online not stolen, says postal department

"The delay has been caused since goods from certain countries had not reached Sri Lanka as airline services were stalled since the end of March," postmaster general Ranjith Ariyaratne said in a statement.

He added that goods are currently with the airlines, although sellers have notified customers that they are on the process of being delivered to the customers.

Meanwhile, recipient addresses on at least 45,000 goods that had been shipped from Malaysia, had been defaced when it reached Sri Lanka on June 20, the postmaster general said.

"Due to the lack of airline facilities, these goods had been shipped to Sri Lanka by the end of May," Ariyaratne noted adding that the addresses had been defaced during the shipping process.

He said the postal department will contact Malaysian postal authorities to obtain the correct address, using the barcode on the parcel, failing which they would be re-sent to Malaysia in order to obtain the correct address.