Another young British tourist is facing years behind bars in a ‘hellhole’ foreign prison accused of trying to smuggle drugs out of Thailand.
Charlotte May Lee, 21, from south London, was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, last Monday after allegedly attempting to bring in more than £1 million worth of Kush – a synthetic form of cannabis – concealed in her luggage.
Her detention came within 24 hours of another UK woman – Bella May Culley – being arrested at an airport in Georgia for trying to smuggle 14kg of cannabis.
Both had flown alone from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
Bella was said to have told relatives she was meeting up with a male friend she had made on a previous trip.
Relatives of Charlotte’s similarly said she had made comments about meeting a man in Thailand, following a painful break-up.
Who is Charlotte May Lee?
Charlotte is a part-time beautician who previously worked as a cabin crew member for TUI.
She was arrested after stepping off a flight landing in Sri Lanka last weekend, The Sun reports.
In two suitcases, police were said to have found nearly 50kg of Kush inside dozens of large vacuum-packed bags.
Reports in Sri Lanka says she remains in custody while the case is being investigated.
The British Foreign Office said: ‘We are supporting a British woman who has been arrested in Sri Lanka and are in contact with her family and the local authorities.’
A friend said Charlotte had been travelling in Thailand for her 21st birthday last month.
She was said to have returned to the UK briefly before jetting off again. Relatives said she had spoken vaguely about meeting a man in Thailand, having recently gone through a difficult break-up.
The ‘hellhole’ prison where she faces being locked up
Charlotte is currently being held in a local jail, Negombo Prison, while her case makes its way through the court system.
If convicted, legal sources in the country say she could serve her sentence in the country’s largest, maximum security prison, the Daily Mail reports.
Welikada Prison has previously been described as ‘hell’ – particularly for female inmates – with maggots found in the food and rats scurrying between cells.
One anonymous female prisoner said in a 2011 interview: ‘We are treated as far less than human. About 150 of us sleep in a cell designed for 75 people.
‘An open drain infested with rats runs the perimeter of the room. Recently, one of the inmates was bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital for an anti-rabies shot.’
A family friend told the Sun: ‘We’re frantically worried. She was arrested then seemingly abandoned and is rotting in a jail cell. She’s very scared.’
How is her case similar to Bella May Culley’s?
Although they were thousands of miles apart, Bella and Charlotte were arrested within a day of each other.
Both had flown from the same airport in Thailand, having reportedly travelled there to meet a mysterious male acquaintance.
Both are now accused of acting as drugs mules for organised crime gangs.
Each woman is alleged to have attempted to smuggle in huge quantities of cannabis or synthetic cannabis inside hermetically-sealed bags into the countries of their respective arrests.
Bella’s granddad William Culley suggested she may have been taken advantage of by someone else.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said: ‘She’s not daft, she’s an intelligent girl. Why has she done it? Has someone dangled money in front of her?
‘We just don’t know what has gone on until we get out there and talk to her. We are just hoping that somebody can do something. She must be terrified.’
Bella similarly faces a hefty sentence in an intimidating foreign prison.
She will reportedly serve any sentence in the country’s only women’s jail, the notorious Prison No. 5.
The prison has been subject to controversy, with human rights groups criticising the treatment of prisoners housed there.
A report by Human Rights Watch found Georgia’s prisons were ‘severely overcrowded’, threatening the safety of inmates.
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