Brits face 15 years in hellhole prison abroad over festival drug dealing charges
Jordan Benoit, 34, and James Calder, 33, were arrested and charged with possession and supply after allegedly peddling MDMA, ketamine and ecstasy in Dhermi, Albania
Two British men could each face up to 15 years in a hellhole Albanian prison after they were charged with drug dealing.
Jordan Benoit, 34, and James Calder, 33, were allegedly peddling MDMA, ketamine and ecstasy at the Kala music festival in the idyllic seaside resort of Dhermi. Video footage shows cops searching a Mitsubishi vehicle owned by the pair in an operation codenamed Cocktail. They also raided a property the duo were renting in the village and allegedly found 52 doses of MDMA, 51 of ketamine, 120 ecstasy pills and €6,185 (£5,264) and £720 in cash, plus four mobiles.
Benoit and Calder, from London, were arrested and charged with possession and supply. A judge remanded them in custody at a hearing last week.
The penalty in Albania for supplying drugs is up to 15 years in prison, according to the UK government. Around 4,000 Brits attend the annual dance music festival, this year headlined by London jazz group the Ezra Collective from June 4 to 11.
The Albanian authorities say the beautiful coastal region is becoming awash with drugs over the summer. Police chief Elidon Cela said their fight against narcotics 'intensifies during the tourist season'.
Speaking to The Mirror he said: 'In addition to local criminal elements, foreign tourist flows are bringing criminal elements who bring synthetic narcotics into our country with the intent of distributing them to tourists.'
The charges come amid a glut of Brits thrown in foreign prisons on drug charges in recent weeks. In Thailand alone, more than 50 have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle cannabis in the last 12 months. And three are facing the death penalty in Bali accused of trafficking.
Last month Bella Culley, 18, from Teesside, allegedly tried to smuggle a suitcase of weed into Georgia. Ex-air stewardess Charlotte May Lee, 21, from South London, has been sharing a prison cell with five other women after she was allegedly caught with 46kg of the drug in her cases in Sri Lanka.
And 21-year-old mum Cameron Bradford, from Knebworth, Herts, was detained at Munich Airport on suspicion of travelling with cannabis from Thailand.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ITV News
2 hours ago
- ITV News
Banged up abroad: Mapping an 'explosion' of Brits being arrested over alleged drug smuggling
The number of British citizens detained abroad over alleged drug smuggling has surged over the past few months, with one charity sounding the alarm over growing numbers of women affected. Bella May Culley, Cameron Bradford and Charlotte May Lee have all made headlines for being locked up overseas. All are young women, all were arrested over alleged narcotics smuggling, and all recently travelled to Thailand. It's a pattern which has come to the attention of Prisoners Abroad - a charity assisting Britons who are arrested and detained overseas. The charity said almost half of its new cases over the past year have involved arrests for drugs offences. Young Brits and British women make up the majority of these, involved in 62% and 65% respectively in 2024. But just how many people from the UK are behind bars abroad for similar reasons - and what could happen to them? What the data shows Hundreds of British citizens are currently detained across the world, accused of narcotics smuggling offences. Prisoners Abroad has told ITV News it is currently supporting 431 people around the globe who are facing drugs charges. This includes 170 people in Europe, 72 behind bars in Asia, and 71 in jails in the Middle East. According to Prisoners Abroad, the country with the most locked-up British citizens is the United Arab Emirates, where the charity is supporting some 51 inmates facing drugs charges. There are fears social media platforms are being used to recruit young people into smuggling. The UAE is followed by Spain and Australia, with 34 and 31 Brits behind bars respectively. In Thailand, there are 22 who have been detained over drugs charges, according to Prisoners Abroad's figures shared with ITV News. Cases of British people being arrested and imprisoned abroad peaked in the year 2014 to 2015, Prisoners Abroad have said, with cases declining in subsequent years. Instances hit a low during the pandemic, but the charity has reported a steady increase since, with total numbers of new cases of British people being detained over drugs charges increasing year-on-year since 2020. Last year, this figure reached 243 new cases - up from 61 in the year 2020-2021. "While the influx of recent high-profile cases can make this seem like a newly emerging issue, it's actually a pattern that's been materialising for several years," the charity told ITV News. "If numbers continue as they are, it looks likely that we will see the highest number of drugs arrests for the first time since 2014-15, and the highest number of total new arrests since 2015-16." A timeline of arrests Prisoners Abroad has started working with 65 new cases of Britons held for alleged drug offences abroad since April 2025 alone. Since the beginning of the year, a spate of similar incidents have hit the headlines, some taking place within days of each other. January 21: Thomas Parker arrested in Bali Thomas Parker, a 32-year-old electrician from Cumbria, was detained earlier this year after allegedly picking up a package from a motorbike driver in Bali, Indonesia. Police accused him of acting suspiciously, before dropping it in a panic. A lab test later revealed it contained around a kilogram of MDMA. He dodged the death penalty after investigators determined the package wasn't directly linked to him, and was sentenced to ten months imprisonment on May 27. February 1: Three Brits arrested in Bali Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 28, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 29, were arrested in Indonesia, after authorities accused them of smuggling cocaine in sachets of Angel Delight pudding mixture in their suitcases. Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, was arrested two days later, after a sting operation set up by police in which the other two suspects handed the drug to him. April 22: Cameron Bradford arrested in Munich Cameron Bradford, 21, was stopped and detained by authorities at Munich Airport on her way back from Thailand. She remains in custody in Germany after allegedly smuggling cannabis. May 5: Two Brits arrested in Valencia Spain's Guardia Civil arrested two British citizens who arrived from France after travelling to Thailand. According to Spanish media, police found 33 kilograms of cannabis in their luggage after stopping the pair, who were "behaving suspiciously" in the airport. May 11: Charlotte May Lee arrested in Sri Lanka, and Bella May Culley arrested in Georgia Charlotte May Lee, from South London, was detained in Sri Lanka after police allegedly found £1.2 million of synthetic cannabis in the 21-year-old's suitcase after travelling from Thailand. Meanwhile, Bella May Culley was arrested in Georgia during a separate incident, after authorities accused her of "illegally purchasing and storing a particularly large amount of narcotics". They said up to 12 kilograms of cannabis was found in her luggage at Tbilisi airport. May 18: Two arrested in Ghana Two British citizens were arrested on the same day in "two successful operations", Ghana 's Narcotics Control Commission said. Brown-Frater Chyna Jade, a 23-year-old woman, was stopped en route to Gatwick by officers who claim they found 32 slabs of cannabis in her luggage. Three people, including 19-year-old British national Owusu Williams Christian, were arrested after travelling from Dubai. Authorities accused him of narcotics smuggling after finding almost 54 kilograms of cannabis in two suitcases. May 27: A 79-year-old man arrested in Chile A British man in his 70s was detained in Chile after travelling to the country from Mexico, police said. They claim five kilograms of methamphetamine was found in the bottom compartment of a suitcase in his possession. Why are numbers rising? Prisoners Abroad has partially linked a "sudden explosion" of drugs-related arrests to a ripple effect from the Thai government's move to decriminalise cannabis in 2022. "Some of this increase could be accounted for by the legalisation of cannabis for personal use in Thailand and the subsequent impact in other countries," it said. "People leave Thailand with drugs and are later arrested in countries of onwards travel, where these drugs are illegal." Following a recent spate of alleged smuggling cases involving tourists, Thailand's government is set to roll out stricter rules on the sale of cannabis, restricting sales to those with a prescription only. More than 50 Brits have been detained in Thailand for allegedly attempting to smuggle cannabis since July 2024, according to a joint operation with UK authorities. On British soil, there has been an "exponential increase" in the cannabis being found in airports, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said Some 27 tonnes of the drug were seized in total, marking a five-fold increase on 2023. A spike in arrests saw 460 passengers detained after travelling from Thailand in 2024, with 108 arriving from Canada and a further 63 coming from the US. Despite many of the recent cases having links to Thailand, Prisoners Abroad told ITV News it may not be the only factor behind the recent explosion of drugs-related arrests. "The quantities and frequency of these new cases suggest something wider at play," the charity said. Penalties and punishments For those found guilty of narcotics smuggling, sentences vary across the world, with some countries, including Thailand, opting for capital punishment. In the UAE, where Prisoners Abroad believe the majority of Brits detained on drugs charges currently are, those found guilty can face life imprisonment or the death penalty. Smuggling drugs can also carry the death penalty in Indonesia. One 69-year-old British woman, Lindsay Sandiford, has been on death row in the country for more than a decade after authorities found cocaine in her suitcase at Bali's airport in 2012. Indonesia last carried out executions in 2016, where four people - three from Nigeria and one Indonesian citizen - were killed by firing squad over drugs offences. In Australia, where dozens of other Brits are being held on drugs charges, those convicted can face life in prison. Judges in Georgia could hand Bella May Culley life in prison if she is found guilty. Charlotte May Lee may face 25 years behind bars if convicted in Sri Lanka. What to do if someone you know is affected The UK Foreign Office has issued several guidelines for British citizens who are arrested abroad, and their families.
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Jay Slater's mates tracked down after witness appeal - where they all are now
Police have tried to track down several people needed for providing witness testimony at Jay Slater's inquest - but several of them failed to turn up to proceedings Tragic Jay Slater 's mates have been tracked down after they seemed to disappear into the wind when the late teen's inquest was opened in May after an urgent witness appeal was launched by police. Missing Jay, 19, was found dead last year following a month-long search in the mountains of Tenerife, having disappeared following a night out on the Spanish territory with several friends on June 17. Lucy Law, Brandon Hargreaves, Brandon Hodgson and two men with whom he stayed at a rented AirBnB the night before he went missing, spoke to local and British media about the teen. But they failed to appear at an inquest into his death launched in late May, which was paused following a desperate plea from Jay's mum to find them. Some of those mates have now been tracked down, with the Daily Mail reporting their last known locations as the inquest prepares to resume. Several of them have been traced to sunkissed overseas destinations not unlike the territory where he went missing last year. Lucy Law Lucy Law was one of two friends who came on holiday with Jay from his native Lancashire last year, and the 18-year-old helped get early search efforts off the ground, assisting the teen's family when they arrived to help. She posted a heartfelt tribute to her late friend when his body was found, writing: "Always the happiest and most smiley person in the room, you was one of a kind Jay and you'll be missed more than you know. "I'm sure you'll 'have your dancing shoes polished and ready' waiting for us all. We all love you buddy. Fly high.' and attended his funeral, but failed to appear at the inquest." She also attended Jay's funeral. She has reportedly returned to Tenerife for a holiday, her stepfather has said. He added that she was also on holiday when she was called to give witness testimony at the inquest earlier this year, with her family unaware it was going on at the time. Bradley Hargreaves Another friend from Lancashire who travelled to Tenerife with Jay, Bradley Hargreaves also regularly spoke with the press after search efforts were launched. When Jay went missing on June 17, Bradley, also known as Bradley Geoghegan, was sent his location, identifying him as being in the small village of Masca. He also posted a tribute when his body was found, saying: "Nothing be the same without you. Rest easy brother. Love you always." He did not appear as a witness at the inquest, having informed the coroner's office he would be abroad on a holiday book last October. He is believed to be in Greece. Brandon Hodgson Brandon Hodgson was the third Lancashire friend to jet to Tenerife alongside Jay, and was one of the last people with whom Jay spoke before going missing. Investigator Mark Williams-Thomas said Brandon, now 20, had received a text from the teen saying: "I've started walking." Brandon added: "He was laughing at first, then he sent me his location. On the phone he said to me 'I've been walking for half an hour', I told him to go back and he said, 'I've already been walking for half an hour, I'm not going back, I don't want to go back, I just want to go home." Brandon is now "liasing with police" after Lancashire Police officers attended his address in the run up to the hearing with a witness summons without answer. Like Jay's other mates, it has been discovered that he is currently on holiday, also abroad but in an undisclosed location. Ayub Qassim Ayub Qassim, a fellow Brit but not a friend from home, had invited Jay back to his rented AirBnB in the Tenerife mountain village of Masca the night before he went missing. The 31-year-old, a convicted drug dealer also known as "Johnny Vegas" had let him stay overnight, and claimed he told Jay he would drive him home after the teen told him "this woman told me I can get a bus every 10 minutes". Mr Qassim told Mark Williams-Thomas: "I told him that he's mad, there's no bus that's coming here every 10 minutes, chill out for a bit and I'll drop you off later on "He said, 'No, no I've got to go to Los Cristianos, I need to scram, I need to chip out'. There's nothing more that I could do. "I saw him walk off maybe down the steps. I maybe shut the door and said if you need me..." The Metropolitan Police had tried to serve him a witness summons at his last known address in Barking, East London, but neighbours informed the service that he was no longer at the address and living abroad. Steven Roccas Steven "Rocky" Roccas was staying with Mr Qassim at the Masca AirBnB, but little more is known about the man beyond this. He kept his head down while Mr Qassim spoke about his last contact with Jay, and his identity was revealed for the first time at the teen's inquest. Met Police officers had tried to serve him a witness summons at his address in London, but found he was no longer residing there before later tracking him to a business via an email address he had provided Spanish police. But the business was shuttered - having reportedly been closed for three years - and Mr Roccas has not been found.
Scottish Sun
11 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Teen girl, 15, dies in suspected drugs tragedy at bus stop in village as 29-year-old man arrested
The young girl died after taking what was suspected to be MDMA 'DRUG' TRAGEDY Teen girl, 15, dies in suspected drugs tragedy at bus stop in village as 29-year-old man arrested Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MAN has been arrested after the tragic death of a teenage girl in a suspected drugs-related incident. The 15-year-old girl collapsed at a bus stop in Allerton Bywater on 6 June. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Police have arrested a man on suspicion of manslaughter and supplying Class A drugs Credit: Getty She was rushed to hospital in an ambulance to receive treatment after taking what initial tests suggest was MDMA. Despite doctors best efforts the young girl remained in a critical condition and tragically died on 12 June. A 29-year-old man was who has not been named was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning on suspicion of manslaughter and supplying Class A drugs. He remains in custody while officers from Leeds District Safeguarding have been carrying out enquiries to establish the full circumstances. A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said they "Are supporting the girl's family and ask that people show consideration and respect their privacy at what is clearly a very difficult time for them. 'Initial tests have shown the drug involved to be MDMA and there is no suggestion of any wider risks arising from this incident, other than the inherent dangers of all illegal drugs.'
