British teenager reported missing in Thailand found detained in Georgia on drug smuggling charges
A British teenager who disappeared while travelling in Thailand has been arrested 4,000 miles away in Georgia, accused of smuggling dozens of bags of cannabis into the country.
Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, was filmed by local media walking into a court in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in handcuffs. She had not been heard from since last Saturday, when she failed to check in with her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, as planned.
The teenager's father and aunt had flown out to Bangkok over the weekend to find out more about Ms Culley's whereabouts, only to discover on Tuesday that she was in Georgia.
The Georgian interior ministry says the teenager is facing life imprisonment, which is 20 years.
A statement read: 'B.K, born in 2006, is charged with illegally purchasing and storing a particularly large amount of narcotics, illegally purchasing and storing the narcotic drug marijuana, and illegally importing it into Georgia. The committed crime envisions up to 20 years — or life imprisonment.'
Local media said the teenager was arrested at Tbilisi airport in possession of '34 hermetically sealed packages containing marijuana … as well as 20 packages of hashish'.
A British Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed that Ms Culley had been detained in Georgia and that they were supporting the teenager's family. Cleveland police also confirmed Ms Culley had been detained in Georgia.
Ms Kennedy said her daughter had been flow to Thailand on 3 May after travelling around the Philippines in April.
'She flew out to the Philippines after Easter with a friend and she was there for three weeks,' Mrs Kennedy told Teesside Live.
'She was posting loads of pictures and then she went to Thailand on about May 3. The last message she sent was to me and that was on Saturday at 5.30 pm, saying she was going to FaceTime me later.
'That was the last message anyone has received from what we can figure out up to now.'
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