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BRITISH “drug smuggler” Charlotte May Lee has been pictured in a new mugshot alongside the huge £1.2 million drug stash she claims she didn’t know was in her luggage.
The 21-year-old former air stewardess has a cautious look on her face as she stands in an glamorous, all-white outfit with sparkly sandals just moments after she was arrested.
Sri Lanka Police
Sri Lanka Police
MoyesPart-time beautician Charlotte was cuffed after stepping off a flight to Sri Lanka from Thailand last Monday.
Her two suitcases are said to have been stuffed with 46kg of synthetic drug kush — which is 25 times more potent than opioid fentanyl.
Other newly released images show the drugs in large vacuum-sealed bags that were allegedly stuffed into Charlotte’s luggage when she arrived into the country’s capital.
Stacks upon stacks of the hermetically sealed packages are seen laid out on a table within Colombo’s Police Narcotic Unit.
The way in which the bags were packaged suggests the stash was packed with a top level of professionalism.
Yesterday Brit wept in court as she was told she may not be sentenced for another 12 months.
And even then she’s been warned she could face 25 years behind bars in tough maximum security Welikada Prison if convicted of being a drug mule.
After her first court appearance she will no longer be allowed to use her phone or contact her loved ones.
A source told The Sun: “Charlotte is crying a lot. The penny has dropped and she is more aware of her perilous situation.
“The jail is not fit for a rat to live in. And she has been told to get used to it.
Police Handout
Tim Stewart
Tim Stewart“She is a total mess. She hates the food, which is only rice with the occasional hot curry.
“The prison is so full that she has been lying in the corridor on a concrete floor with no pillow or sheet.”
The Sun can reveal a mystery British man was waiting for Charlotte when she arrived on a flight to Colombo from Thailand last Monday.
A source said: “Charlotte had been going on about this man she was madly in love with. She met him in Bangkok. He was then waiting for her on touchdown in Sri Lanka.
“She obviously never got to meet him when she was arrested. Who is this man – the police should be investigating him. We understand he has even been in touch with Charlotte behind bars. We worry she is somehow under his spell.”
Charlotte claimed on Tuesday the drugs – 25 times more potent than powerful opioid fentanyl – found in her suitcase were “planted” on her.
The part-time beautician, of Chipstead in Surrey said she had “no idea” that there were drugs in her luggage when she left Bangkok.
She claimed: “I had never seen them before. I didn’t expect it all when they pulled me over at the airport. I thought it was going to be filled with all my stuff.
Bella May Culley link
By Annabel Bate, Foreign News Reporter
FEARS are growing that Brit “drug smuggling” cases involving Bella Culley and Charlotte Lee could be linked, as similarities including a “mystery man” have emerged.
Within a single day of 18-year-old backpacker Bella getting arrested in Georgia, Charlotte, 21, suffered the same fate over 3,000 miles away.
Both women are believed to have used the same airport to depart, allegedly with the drugs on them, as cops say they flew solo from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
A potential link between the two cases appears likely to form part of the investigations being executed by the Georgian and Sri Lankan authorities.
Another similarity between the cases is how well the discovered narcotics were stashed.
Shocking images published by customs officials in Sri Lanka show how drugs had been allegedly stuffed into Charlotte’s luggage in large vacuum-sealed bags.
Bella’s alleged stash was also discovered in stacked, airtight packages pointing to a similar-style operation.
And in another twist, the two had individually told their loved ones they planned on meeting a mystery man during their travels.
Bella revealed to her family she was meeting an unknown man in the Philippines who had moved to the country from the North East.
The backpacker’s social media went on to show her clearly in the company of a male stranger – but he was never clearly pictured or named.
Meanwhile Charlotte, a former TUI stewardess, left for Thailand weeks ago, with relatives saying she had made vague comments about meeting a man in Thailand.
She had recently endured a painful break-up, they added.
If found guilty, south Londoner Charlotte could face a 25-year sentence.
And a sentence ranging from 20 years to life could be a possibility for teen Bella from County Durham, according to prosecutors.
“I had been in Bangkok the night before and had already packed my clothes because my flight was really early.
“So I left my bags in the hotel room and headed for the night out. As they were already packed I didn’t check them again in the morning.”
The young Brit believes the huge amount of illegal substances were planted in her luggage in a planned move by dangerous dealers in Southeast Asia.
And Charlotte, a former TUI stewardess, has now said: “I know who did it.”
Charlotte said the jail shower is just a bucket of water with a broken TV the only activity available.
Another major issue the Brit, from Coulsdon, is facing is eating and keeping clean.
Kush, a highly addictive synthetic drug, has claimed the lives of thousands in West Africa where it first appeared in 2022 – and is spreading globally at an alarming rate.
The dirt-cheap drug is cut with an array of additives including acetone, the opioid tramadol and formalin, a toxic chemical commonly used to preserve bodies in mortuaries.
The maggot-infested ‘hellhole’ prison where Charlotte faces being locked up
Tim Stewart
Charlotte May Lee is in jail in Sri Lanka
English (US)