Reason Brit 'drug mules' are 'flavour of the month' for shady gangs is exposed
Recently, Bella Culley, from Billingham, County Durham, was arrested in Georgia and Charlotte May Lee, from Coulsdon in London, allegedly had a synthetic strain of cannabis in her luggage in Sri Lanka
Party-going Brits are the "flavour of the month" for drug smuggler gangs, experts warned today.
Insiders say Brits are being recruited on the promise of quick cash and the "perfect package" luxury holiday in the likes of Thailand and Indonesia. However, some are never making it home - or are absent for months - because they are being banged up in hellhole jails for drug smuggling offences.
Bella Culley, from Billingham, County Durham, and Charlotte May Lee, from Coulsdon, south London, are just two of the several Brits to be lured into the murky world recently. However, in a case that has bucked the trend, a 79-year-old William 'Billy Boy' Eastment, of Somerset, was arrested in Chile last week after a Mexican gang allegedly promised him £3.7million to smuggle a suitcase of crystal meth from Cancun.
And experts say the variety highlights how age isn't a barrier for these gangs. One drugs expert said: "They recruit anyone they think looks innocent enough to get through customs, and yet still be dodgy enough to do the deal."
Airport security - both in the UK and abroad - is now said to be on high alert for suspicious behaviour that staff may associate with drug smuggling. Culley, for instance, was snagged in Georgia after allegedly carrying 14kg of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation from Thailand, where she had been holidaying.
And Lee, a former TUI flight attendant, is locked up in a Sri Lankan prison after police allegedly discovered 46kg of "Kush" - a synthetic strain of cannabis - in her suitcase when she arrived on a flight from Thailand.
A flurry of similar cases have followed including 36-year-old OnlyFans model Clara Wilson, from Nottinghamshire, 21-year-old Cameron Bradford, from Hertfordshire, and 29-year-old Kimberly Hall, from Middlesbrough, who have all been arrested on suspicion of smuggling abroad.
Gary Carroll, an expert witness in drug cases, told Mail Online crooks are targeting young people, particularly women, on social media. Mr Carroll, who spent 14 years in policing before becoming a witness, told the publication: "It's (social media) created a gateway for suppliers to target and make connections with young, well-travelled, glamorous ladies and girls that are seeking that ability to travel the world and afford to do so.
"Smuggling drugs or packages where they're not entirely sure of the contents in exchange for free holidays and cash seems quite a lucrative offer."
Mr Carroll, from Claymore Advisory Group, said he has worked on cases where the "common denominator" is free accommodation, free flights, spending money and some cash with which to come home. He added: "I've even seen business class being thrown in there to sweeten the deal. It's almost the perfect package for those that want to travel, take all the pictures for social media at no expense of their own."
Dr David Holmes, a leading criminal psychologist, warned Brits to be vigilant on holiday as he said some gang members will brazenly approach tourists on beaches with offers to join the murky underworld.
He said: "It's anyone they think looks innocent enough to get through customs, and yet still be dodgy enough to do the deal. It may be that Brits are the flavour of the month - and I would imagine it's quite more likely that Brits are the flavour of the month with airport security.. That's why they are being picked up more, because they are being picked on more."
Police in Sri Lanka, meanwhile, insist Lee - arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle 101lb (46kg) the synthetic strain of cannabis into the country - is "in a lot of trouble". The Brit faces up to 25 years in a tough maximum-security jail in Sri Lanka if she is convicted.
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The Sun
35 minutes ago
- The Sun
I was banged up in hellhole prison like Brit drug mules & preyed on by pervy guards… sick ways they break female inmates
HANDCUFFED to a chair and sweating profusely in a puffer jacket, Alana Moor was terrified she'd never be allowed to go home. The 24-year-old was due to fly back home to Canada from Panama when she was arrested for drug smuggling in March 2015. 16 16 People she'd considered friends had persuaded her to take a suitcase, which contained 11 kilos of cocaine stashed in the lining. Alana - who was sentenced to six years and nine months for her crime - says she was detained in a stinking prison cell where she was deprived of all basic necessities and preyed on by pervy male prison guards. So she understands only too well the horror that alleged Brit drug mules Bella Culley, 18, Charlotte May Lee, 21, will be facing in Georgia and Sri Lanka respectively, after they too were caught smuggling the illegal substance. In an exclusive chat Alana, now 38, tells The Sun: 'I was scared for my life as two armed officers put me into the back of a rickety truck. 'I didn't know where I was going, and I was terrified I was going to be raped or something. 'After a while, they pulled up to this police station with a prison attached. 'Once there I was strapped to a chair in the clothes I had planned to travel home in - winter items. 'They left me there for days, nowhere to go to the loo, wash, or not even allowed to take off a layer. It was humiliating. "I had to wipe myself with my hand when I went to the loo where I was sat. 'When the guard came to unchain me, he retched at the smell of me. Brits accused of trying to smuggle drugs into the UK from abroad are being locked away for a long time 'Just two weeks before I had been partying with NBA stars.' Alana claims she was convinced to carry the case by a client she was styling, with ambitions of becoming a fashion designer. She had been taken under the wing of the woman - who claimed to work for a famous US music star in Toronto. Alana says the woman, who' d become a friend, promised to introduce her to celebrities that could become potential clients - on the condition she took a holiday to Panama to pick up a suitcase and bring it back to Canada for the musician. Alana claims they promised to get her out of Panama safely if anything went wrong because they had top lawyers. 16 She admits she suspected the suitcase contained something illegal, telling The Sun she thought it was likely drugs, passports or cash. The friend promised Alana that on her return she'd be introduced to the music mogul and become their stylist. But her dream was shattered when border officers found the cocaine stash hidden in the suitcase lining. Alana says she was strip-searched at the airport and made to watch as cops pulled out the packages, which she'd naively thought was insulation. She was then handed a form in Spanish and told by a translator to cooperate and sign it - but later discovered it confirmed everything in the case was hers. In the first Panama prison she was detained in, Alana says they sent one meal, a bottle of water and a can of Coke, and claims it was the only food she was given while shackled to the chair. She was later moved to an all-female prison to await her court date. Violent offenders After being handed a six year, nine-month sentence, Alana was moved to an overcrowded female prison in the centre of Panama. When she arrived at the jail, she says there were 26 women to one cramped room. By the time she left that number was closer to 60. Many were in prison for murder and other violent offences. But the majority had been caught with drugs and arrested to show officials were taking an active stance in the war on drugs. 'Prison in Panama is nothing like prison in the US, Canada or the UK,' she says. 'As I was being taken in, the guard said to me, 'There are laws in this country, but as soon as you cross these bars, the laws don't apply'. 'I had nothing given to me, just the clothes I was wearing. I had to shower with laundry detergent for the first two weeks. 'I wasn't given any underwear, no toilet paper or sanitary products. When I got my period I had to free bleed, with blood soaking my clothes as I went about my day. 'Guards and other inmates would tell me I smelt like blood, but there was nothing I could do. No woman should ever be put in that position.' Thankfully Alana's parents were allowed to visit and could bring supplies and money for her to buy things she needed - but she says that didn't always make things better. 'Depending on who was guarding when we were sent outside for work, sometimes we wouldn't be allowed back in to use the bathroom," she recalls. 'And when I was on my period, that would mean I used to have to just bleed through whatever sanitary product I was wearing. It was vile.' Horrifying searches Alana claims it was common for prison guards to randomly search cells in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning to try to seize phones or drugs that had been brought into the prison. Often these raids came with humiliating strip searches for the women. 'One morning, 80 balaclava-wearing officers burst in and sprayed us with pepper spray,' she recalls. 'I was in my underwear. They took people out to be strip searched." I'd find notes in my stuff from the male guards telling me I was pretty or that they wanted me to be their girlfriend. Alana Moor Alana claims she was made to bend over and officers pointed to her tampon string, demanding she remove it. 'I tried to refuse, but they didn't care," she says. "I was then made to sit in the corner of the cell while they searched it for 45 minutes holding this bloody tampon in my hand while bleeding everywhere. 'Six male officers watched me as I left the room and then sat where I was told. It was horrendous and inhumane.' Indecent propositions 16 Male officers also brazenly attempted to woo girls they were supposed to be guarding, Alana claims. 'Often after raids I'd find notes in my stuff from the male guards telling me I was pretty or that they wanted me to be their girlfriend,' Alana says. 'They'd leave their phone number because they knew we had mobiles. I was often targeted for being the 'white gringo' in the prison.' Alana says having a mobile phone was commonplace, and hiding them became a lucrative business for inmates. Everyone was hustling to try to make money. Drugs were dropped of at night by gangs. Alana Moor Women would be paid $100 to put them in intimate places to stop them being taken, with Alana claiming some girls fit "up to five" in their private parts. 'Everyone was hustling to try to make money," she says. 'Drugs were also common. They'd be dropped in at night by gangs who would post them through the tiny letter box windows in the concrete jail.' Vile conditions Alana claims it was common for power and water at the prison to fail for days on end, leaving them without showers or facilities to wash. 'We'd be having to put our excrement in bin bags because we couldn't flush the toilets,' she recalls. 'Then we'd be given a bucket of water to shower with for the days the power was out. This was all while it was extremely hot. 'It just wasn't sanitary. I'd get sick a lot because the water wasn't particularly clean. I had to beg and pay to get purified water. There are just layers and layers of trauma being piled onto you when you're inside. They treat you like you're nothing. Alana Moor 'Often the food we were given was rotten, but you had to eat it in order to survive. 'There are just layers and layers of trauma being piled onto you when you're inside. They treat you like you're nothing.' Alana used her prison time to do every course she could, even teaching herself Spanish. She also worked out for two hours every day and helped teach other women how to exercise to keep themselves fit. Warning to Brit drug mules 16 16 16 16 16 16 Now she is a motivational speaker and offers dignity packages to women who find themselves in prison, and helps families advocate for drug mules in similar situations. Alana is horrified by the growing number of young British women who have recently been caught attempting to smuggle drugs. Former air hostess Charlotte May Lee is in a Sri Lankan jail accused of smuggling £1.2million of cannabis while pregnant Bella Culley from County Durham was arrested in Georgia for smuggling cannabis from Thailand. This week it emerged another young mum, Cameron Bradford, is being detained in Germany for allegedly smuggling cannabis in her bags on a flight from Thailand. Alana says: 'I feel so sad for them, but the best thing they can do now is take accountability for their actions, as hard as that is. 'It's easy to blame other people, but you've made this decision. The best and worst thing about prison is time, so use that time wisely. "The end goal is to come out better than you went in. 'For their parents, support and love your child. They need you now more than ever. "They know they've made a mistake, and getting mad at them won't make that any better. "I will be reaching out to their families to offer help and support in any way I can.' Alana Moor is founder of The Hour Glass Movement, which provides dignity packages to women in prison. She also works as a motivational speaker, life coach and an advocate for women in prison, working with Lenola PR. Why Brit backpackers are prime targets, Thai cop reveals By Patrick Harrington Police Lieutenant Colonel Arun Musikim, Deputy Inspector of the Surat Thani province police force, said: 'Cases involving British nationals smuggling cannabis have been around for a while. 'There is a lot of cannabis grown on Thailand's islands in the south because the climate is suitable and it is legal. A lot of gangs are attracted to this. 'There are now various smuggling methods that we have seen. Some carry it themselves, some hire backpackers, and some send it via mail. 'This year, there have been many cases we have intercepted. Most involve British and Malaysian nationals. 'It's easy for British citizens to travel as they can enter Thailand and return to the UK without needing a visa. 'Most of the smugglers are people hired to carry the cannabis, similar to how tourists might smuggle tax-free goods. 'They're usually unemployed individuals from the UK. The gangs offer them flights, pocket money and hotel stays, just to come and travel and take a bag back home with them. 'These people often have poor social standing at home and are looking for ways to earn quick money. They find them through friends or on social media. 'Many will go to festivals or parties while they are here, just like they are having a normal trip abroad. 'They are told that it is easy and they will not be caught. Then the amount the organisers can sell the cannabis for in the UK is much higher than it costs in Thailand. 'Police suspect that there are multiple employers and groups receiving the drugs on the other end. The cannabis then enters the UK market. 'We are being vigilant to ensure there are no routes out of the country.'
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Machine gun killer caused rammy behind bars after he was banned from playing goalie in prison team
He represented himself in court and admitted targeting a prison officer at HMP Shotts RED CARD Machine gun killer caused rammy behind bars after he was banned from playing goalie in prison team A MURDERER kicked off behind bars after he was banned from playing goalkeeper in a prison team. Samuel Petto, 45, claimed he attacked guard Tara Jackson after being red-carded from his role in the closed doors kick-about. He lunged towards Miss Jackson who had gone to his cell with nurses amid fears he had taken illicit substances. Petto appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted targeting her at maximum security HMP Shotts, Lanarkshire. Fellow killers Mohamud Mohamud, 41, and Paul Watson, 39, also appeared to admit assaulting staff at the prison between May and October last year. Depute fiscal Jack Muir told the court Petto had become volatile in his cell. He said: "Prison officers attended at the cell of the accused along with NHS staff to check on the accused who was believed to be under the influence. "The complainer Jackson and another officer entered the cell and he became aggressive towards them and lunged towards the complainer and grabbed her by the belt and shirt. "The accused thereafter began to punch the prison officer on her face and head area and then pulled her to the ground which caused other staff to enter which allowed the complainer to leave the cell. "She suffered bruising on her left eye and the back of her head, pain and limpness to the right knee, cuts to her head and neck area and swelling to her right hand and wrist." Petto, who represented himself in court, claimed he had become angry after being told he was not allowed to play football. He said: "I'd organised the football and they were getting people for football but said I wasn't going. So I started shouting trying to get my door open so I could go and play because I'm the goalie. Ex-Arsenal starlet jailed over plot to smuggle £600k of cannabis into UK "They came back with nurses saying I was under the influence but I wasn't taking drugs. I just wanted to get to the football and then they all grabbed me and were trying to pull me by the head and that was when the other screws came in and this melee happened. "I don't know why I wasn't allowed to go to football." Watson lashed out at Miss Jackson in a separate incident while Mohamud assaulted guard Michael Corrigan during a trip to University Hospital Wishaw. Lorna Clark, defending Mohamud and Watson, said they had struggled with addiction behind bars and had no recollection of the incidents. Sheriff Louise Gallacher handed Petto a year while Mohamud and Watson were given six months. All were told the sentences would run alongside their current terms for murder. Petto murdered a woman in an explosion which he caused to cover up the killing of a flatmate in March 2003 and was jailed for a minimum of 18 years. Machine gun killer Mohamud, who previously boasted about having two X-Boxes in his cell, was jailed for 25 years after killing a drug gang rival in Edinburgh in 2013. Watson was jailed for 20 years after being convicted of murdering a man with a pitchfork and knife in 2014.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'Land-grabbing' travellers were 'lucky not to have caused a train crash' after using huge diggers to build an 'illegal' camp feet away from a major high-speed railway line, expert says
'Land-grabbing' travellers were lucky not to have caused a catastrophic train crash after using huge diggers to build an 'illegal' camp feet away from a major high-speed railway line, an expert has warned. Villagers living in the sleepy community of Balderton were left horrified by the development of an unauthorised site right next to one the area's busiest rail routes. Builders arrived in force during the VE Day bank holiday weekend last month to convert a field off Bullpit Road, in Nottinghamshire, into the new camp. Excavators, diggers and large trucks were seen on the grassy plot, which was flattened and gravelled over in less than 72 hours - all without planning permission. One ex-soldier, who spent 22 years in the Royal Engineers before moving into health and safety and construction, said the works risked triggering a catastrophic rail crash. The Gulf War veteran, who lives locally, also chillingly claimed it was a miracle excavators did not damage the railway line or accidentally strike high-speed trains, which can race just feet from the new camp at a blistering 125mph. 'It brought a chill to my spine,' the retired Warrant Officer 1 told MailOnline. 'It's a busy line. The trains won't be able to stop, whizzing past the crossing at 125mph. 'It doesn't bear thinking about if you made a mistake. All it would have taken would have been for an excavator to have over-reached and hit a train passing. Then you would have had something really serious on your hands.' The retired Royal Engineer - who was previously an instructor at the regiment's prestigious engineering school in Chatham, Kent - added: 'We would have had to jump through hoops for months with Network Rail to do what they did that close to the northern main line.' An enforcement notice was later served by Newark and Sherwood District Council on May 8 - days after the works began - ordering the unauthorised construction to stop. A retrospective planning application for ten individual pitches, each with a static caravan and touring caravan, and ancillary hardstanding, has since been submitted by the landowner. However, locals fear the new site will prompt house prices in the area to 'plummet'. And concerns have also been raised about the risk posed by the camp's access, which is next to a busy level crossing. Neighbours fear travellers turning into it could block the road, leaving drivers stranded on the tracks as the barriers come down. One local, who asked not to be named, told MailOnline they were shocked when the unauthorised encampment appeared. 'We felt sick. Your stomach drops out,' they said. 'We thought this was our forever home. We love the neighbours then suddenly they turn up and build a traveller camp right on our doorstep. It's going to reduce the value of properties around here.' The retired soldier - who during the first Gulf War in 1990 helped build runways for military jets in the Middle East - added he was stunned by the speed of the work at the field. 'I know how to move a lot of stone with a lot of tippers, bulldozers and excavators quickly. So, to do all this in 72 hours takes a huge amount of planning. It was literally like a military operation,' the engineer said. The development in Balderton is not the only one to have sprung up around the area in the past few weeks. A similar development took place north of the community, between the nearby villages of Weston and Egmanton. A huge 40-pitch caravan site was built over the Easter bank holiday in April without planning permission. The site, based on a field off the A1, was completed in a matter of days, with tarmac roads and fences. As well as roads built on the camp, locals said they had also seen septic tanks sunk, electricity and water illegitimately connected, and key drainage dykes filled to create the site access. Both the plots in Balderton and Weston appear to be latest in a trend exposed by MailOnline which has seen fields unlawfully developed into traveller sites. Groups across the UK have been accused of carrying out brazen bank holiday 'landgrabs' to rapidly build camps under the noses of council chiefs while their offices are closed. Allegedly weaponising the national breaks, industrial diggers, excavators and lorries carrying gravel, are mobilised to rip up and pave over fields in protected green belts during 'deliberate and meticulously planned' operations. Cynically, the 'illegal' conversions are done without any planning permission, flouting development rules - with 'retrospective' applications later submitted to councils to allow the newly-constructed sites to remain. Since April, locations across the country have seen a sudden surge of developments - with the bulk taking place on the Easter, VE Day and late May bank holidays. An investigation by MailOnline has revealed similar unauthorised 'landgrabs' blighting villages and towns across Buckinghamshire, West Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Gloucester, Worcestershire and Cheshire. During a fiery village meeting about the new site in Weston, furious residents feared the area would not be able to cope with the sudden surge of travellers. 'There's 40 caravans, so maybe 160 people - we don't have a shop, we don't have buses, the school can't take them,' one person said at the recent public meeting, as reported by the Newark Advertiser. 'What are they going to do? It'll increase stress on services, and they'll be bored and get into anti-social behaviour and it will increase stress on the police. 'There's been noise and light pollution all night, and intimidation. When I first came here I never felt so safe — I daren't leave my house because of this. I can't take it.' There is a large gypsy and traveller community around Newark area, with sites dotted across the district. However, the Labour-run authority overseeing the district is facing an accommodation crisis for its nomadic residents, with a recent assessment saying at least 169 new pitches need to be made by 2034 to house travellers. In a statement about the development in Bullpit Road, a council spokesman said: 'Newark and Sherwood District Council has been working diligently to find a solution to address the unauthorised development on Bullpit Road, Balderton. 'It is extremely disappointing that the occupants chose to ignore the requirement to secure planning permission and undertook construction works without permission and during the night. 'In an ideal world, the council would have the powers to step in straight away, stop the works, and clear the site. Sometimes we can do this, for example, if something is likely to be a danger to the public or create irreversible damage to a heritage building. 'But in regards to Bullpit Road, this isn't the case, and so we have to find another way to address the unauthorised development.' Network Rail confirmed it was not consulted prior to the work at the camp taking place, with the authority receiving its first notice on May 28 via the council.
