The unidentified woman was arrested at the country's main international
airport on Monday and appeared before a magistrate who ordered her deportation,
police said in a statement.
The statement said she had an image of the Buddha seated on a lotus flower
tattooed on her right arm.
"She was taken before the Negombo magistrate who ordered her to be detained
prior to deportation," it said, adding that she was arrested shortly after her
arrival on a flight from neighbouring India.
It did not say what charges were brought against her, but Sri Lanka barred
another British tourist from entering the island in March last year for showing
"disrespect" to Buddhism by having a Buddha tattooed on his arm.