Another Thai Brit smuggler suspect arrested with cannabis haul bound for UK after Bella Culley & Charlotte May Lee drama
ANOTHER Thai Brit smuggler suspect has been arrested with a cannabis haul bound for the UK, following similar cases like Bella Culley and Charlotte May Lee.
The 31-year-old suspect was stopped during a transit stop on his way to Newcastle via Frankfurt from Bangkok and was led away in cuffs to be locked up in preventive custody at the Korneuburg prison.
Advertisement
1
Police discovers a total of 11.3 kilograms of cannabis in British man's suitcase
Credit: Newsflash
The arrest took place at Vienna International Airport, a city airport on the outskirts of the Austrian capital yesterday.
Customs officers found 11.3kg of cannabis packed into 13 vacuum-sealed parcels concealed among clothes in the man's suitcase.
The suitcase had been checked in at Bangkok and was labelled for onward travel to Frankfurt and Newcastle.
Police said the street value of the cannabis was approximately £95,000.
Advertisement
read more news
According to police, the man, who was not named, refused to confess and made no statement about the contents of the suitcase.
Officials said the investigation is being led by the public prosecutor's office in Korneuburg.
It comes merely a day after
The pair were picked out by suspicious cops at Valencia Airport after displaying a 'nervous and evasive attitude' and are now behind bars on drug trafficking charges.
Advertisement
Most read in The Sun
The man and woman, aged 33 and 34, were stopped before reaching customs, with officials later discovering vacuum-packed marijuana and no clothes or personal belongings in their luggage.
This marks the fourth case in weeks involving British nationals and alleged drug smuggling linked to Thailand.
Brit woman, 21, rotting in Dubai hellhole jail without a shower for a month after being arrested on drugs charges
Bella May Culley, 18, sparked a massive international search operation in early May after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand.
But it was later revealed that the teen, from Billingham, County Durham, had been
Advertisement
The teen - who posted online about living a "Bonnie and Clyde" lifestyle - is now in Georgia's grim No5 Women's Penitentiary near Rustavi, facing 15 years to life in prison.
Her new lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia, a juvenile law specialist, said Bella didn't even know where she was when arrested.
Bella is said to have told her lawyer she is pregnant and cooperated with police for the first time last week, as her anguished dad Niel visited her for 45 minutes and delivered food and clothes.
And recently 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after police discovered
Advertisement
The former flight attendant, facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted, is claiming she had 'no idea' about the drugs worth up to £1.2 million.
She insists they must have been planted in her luggage without her knowledge.
Charlotte, a part-time beautician and ex-TUI stewardess, had flown into Sri Lanka from Thailand and was snapped in a white outfit and sparkly sandals just after her arrest.
Her two suitcases were reportedly stuffed with tightly vacuum sealed packages of the deadly synthetic drug, 25 times more potent than fentanyl.
Advertisement
She claims she left her packed bags unattended overnight in her Bangkok hotel while out partying and had no idea what was inside.
'I had never seen them before,' she said.
A mystery British man she met in Thailand was reportedly waiting for her at Colombo airport, and sources fear she may have been under his influence.
Charlotte is now holed up in the overcrowded Welikada Prison, where she's been forced to sleep on a concrete floor, clean herself with a bucket of water and survive on rice and curry.
Advertisement
'She is a total mess,' a source told The Sun.
'She hates the food… The prison is not fit for a rat to live in.'
She broke down in court after being told she may not be sentenced for another 12 months and is now banned from contacting loved ones.
Meanwhile an older British man has been arrested by police in Chile after allegedly being caught trying to smuggle five kilos of methamphetamine into the country.
Advertisement
The 79-year-old was held after leaving a flight from the Mexican resort of Cancun at Santiago Airport.
He was booked on a flight to Sydney in Australia the following day after spending a night at a hotel in the Chilean capital.
The unnamed pensioner was remanded in custody following a court appearance after a judge approved a prosecution request to send him to prison pending probable charges and trial.
Cops say the drugs he was apprehended with would have been worth around £200,000 on the streets of the south American country.
Advertisement
He was intercepted after his luggage was put through an airport scanner.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Cannabis seizures at UK airports soar to new highs with Thai gangs responsible
CANNABIS seizures have soared to record highs at UK airports — as Thai smuggling gangs attempt to dominate the British market in the illegal drug. The amount caught at Heathrow alone last year — 14.7 tons — was almost triple the 5.6 tons snared at all airports during 2023. Advertisement 2 Alleged smuggler Charlotte May Lee was arrested in Sri Lanka on a flight from Thailand Credit: Sri Lanka Police Nearly 27 tons of cannabis were seized at British airports last year, 400 per cent up on the previous 12 months. Some 750 people were caught by specialist cops, way up on the 134 nicked the year before. Nearly two thirds were flying in from Thailand. A record 430 suspects were arrested at Heathrow, the National Crime Agency said. Advertisement READ MORE ON DRUGS Next worst hotspots were Manchester with 135 arrests and 4.8 tons seized and Birmingham, where 40 people were arrested over 1.4 tons. Thai gangs are thought to be trying to expand their stake in the British market by exploiting the Asian state's decriminalising of the drug in 2022. Many Brits are now caught trying to re-enter the UK with drugs having been lured to Thailand by the promise of a free holiday, lavish gifts and posh accommodation. In return, they must bring back suitcases stuffed with drugs. Advertisement Most read in The Sun A source said: 'It's so much easier to obtain cannabis in Thailand than anywhere else. 'There is a huge amount of demand in the UK, especially for kush, which is much stronger. That explains the massive surge in seizures.' Charlotte May Lee fears being locked away for 20yrs over £1.2m Sri Lanka drugs bust – & is 'aware' of Bella Culley case More than 50 British nationals have been caught acting as drug mules on flights out of Thailand since the start of 2024. They include Advertisement 2 There have been record numbers of cannabis seizures at UK airports, with two-thirds coming from Thailand Credit: Unpixs
The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
How police forces are demanding more taxpayers' cash to fight crime while spending millions on ‘woke' diversity schemes
MISGUIDED police forces are demanding extra public money while spending millions of pounds on 'woke' diversity schemes, we can reveal. Five of Britain's biggest constabularies this week wrote an open letter to the government insisting they are desperately short of funds, despite being handed almost £1billion extra by the Home Office. Advertisement 1 Woke police forces reckon they should get more government funding Credit: PA Yet a Sun probe today shows the extraordinary amounts being spent on Freedom of Information requests show that in the last year, the Met spent £3.6million, West Yorkshire Police blew over £1million, West Midlands Police paid out £222,378 and Greater Manchester Police spent £335,653. Merseyside Police — which failed to respond to our FOI request — is believed to have allocated a similar amount. In total, this would have paid for an extra 139 bobbies on the beat, given the average Meanwhile, around one million work days are lost to diversity training across the public sector, according to pressure group Conservative Way Forward, draining resources. Advertisement Read More on UK News 'High workloads' The Met employed 51 officers and staff in 'culture, diversity and inclusion' roles between April 2024 and February. This was paid for by record funding of £1.148billion, which accounted for 27 per cent of City Hall's annual budget — up eight per cent on 2016. Across the country, a total of £19.5billion has been allocated for policing as part of the government's Plan for Change programme, an increase of £987million on last year. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley is calling for more funding after the capital saw a 41 per cent rise in theft and a 58 per cent hike in Advertisement Most read in The Sun Total recorded crime went up by two per cent in the same period, according to the Office for National Statistics, while Phone muggings and 'It's mind-boggling!' Woke cops need to prevent REAL crime and stop policing tweets, rages Reform MP Meanwhile, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services has rated the Met 'inadequate' at investigating crime. Its 2025 report states: 'Supervisors in investigation teams have little or no training in how to manage crime workloads.' Advertisement Police Federation Of England and Wales acting chair Tiffany Lynch has warned 'we are on track to lose 10,000 officers a year' as senior bobbies quit — and it will cost £10billion over five years to replace them. Meanwhile, West Yorkshire Police — whose Chief Constable John Robins put his name to this week's letter — has been slammed for prioritising ethnic minority recruits. There was outrage this year when it was reported that under-represented groups were allowed to submit an 'early expression of interest' in work before white British recruits. The force denied discrimination, but one Facebook user raged: 'So much for diversity and inclusion.' Advertisement Another added: 'Surely this is racist. This wouldn't be allowed the other way around?' Robins' force budgeted £1,069,188 to employ 19 inclusion and diversity staff, in both uniformed and non-uniformed roles. They include three diversity, equality and inclusion officers costing £45,924 a year each; two administrative assistants costing £30,912 a time; and six uniformed positive action ambassadors on £59,844. Advertisement A uniformed positive action inspector costs £94,272 per annum, and the constabulary is also paying out £361,000 to an external provider for equality and diversity training. While that is happening, West Yorkshire has the highest crime rate of the five constabularies calling for more funds, with 115.2 recorded crimes per 1,000 of the population last year, ONS data shows. Sexual offences are up 11 per cent, vehicle offences are up four per cent and shoplifting is up by two per cent. The latest HMICFRS evaluation concluded West Yorkshire's crime investigation 'requires improvement'. Advertisement The report said team supervisors complained of being 'affected by high workloads, dealing with daily prisoner demand and supporting inexperienced officers'. 'Saddled with debt' Elsewhere, West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford has fears of an 'overstretched police service saddled with debt, broken buildings and outdated technology'. He cut his DEI team in half last year after his force spent £184,602 on diversity and inclusion training since 2019. This year, it employed a sergeant and an inspector in DEI roles, earning at least £112,605 between them based on current annual pay brackets. Advertisement It also retained two police staff earning £81,000 in total for doing a similar role, while £28,773 was spent on DEI training. ONS data shows West Midlands Police recorded the highest rate of knife crime outside London last year — 156 offences per 100,000 people. There was a 32 per cent increase in The report states: 'We found the force hasn't made enough progress improving the standard of its investigations since our last inspection. Advertisement 'As a result, not enough offenders are being brought to justice. 'We acknowledge the force does a good job of investigating many of the most serious crimes. But in our crime file review, we judged that only 54 of 100 investigations were effective. This is concerning.' The Met wants more funding after a 41% rise in theft and a 58% hike in shoplifting last year yet it employed 51 officers and staff in 'culture, diversity and inclusion' roles Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson is another calling for more funding. His force is currently spending £335,653 a year paying three uniformed officers promoting diversity and inclusion, although 'all training is completed in-house,' according to a response to our FOI request. Advertisement Residents are concerned that sexual offences were up five per cent last year, while shoplifting rose by 20 per cent. HMICFRS inspectors have flagged issues with how the force monitors registered sex offenders, finding a backlog of 1,490 home visits had built up by 2023. The report added: 'At the end of our inspection period, the force told us that backlogs had been reduced to 163 overdue visits. As a result, it is considering keeping the structure it developed as part of its successful plan to reduce overdue visits.' Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, Serena Kennedy, was another signatory, along with Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council. Advertisement Shocking statistics Sexual offences rose by seven per cent on Merseyside last year, according to the ONS, while shoplifting jumped by 13 per cent and The latest HMICFRS review found a significant backlog of sex offender cases, stating: 'The force doesn't have clear governance or oversight . . . to manage risks posed by online child abuse offenders. 'There are unnecessary delays in consulting with social services to start safeguarding children.' The Taxpayers' Alliance say UK police diversity jobs have increased by almost a third in three years, costing £15million since the beginning of the 2021-22 financial year. Advertisement This nonsensical obsession with diversity has to end. Anything else is a waste of time and money Chris Philp The drive is already proving controversial, with Hertfordshire Constabulary criticised for advising staff not to use 'Sir' and 'Ma'am' when addressing the public. And Staffordshire Police was blasted for warning that gender specific words such as 'policeman' may be illegal. Phrases including 'man up' and 'grow a pair' also became a no-no. 'This nonsensical obsession with diversity has to end. Anything else is a waste of time and money.' A Met Police spokesman said: 'This team works to raise standards across the Met. This work will deliver better outcomes for victims.' Advertisement And Catherine Hankinson, West Yorkshire's Deputy Chief Constable, said: 'Officers, staff and volunteers work tirelessly to reduce crime, protect the vulnerable and reassure the public. We aim to deliver the best possible service while remaining committed to improving equality, diversity and inclusion.'
The Irish Sun
10 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Body of Brit found five months after he disappeared along with his friend on Italian hiking trip
THE body of a Brit hiker who vanished during a trek in Italy five months ago has now been found. 5 Aziz Ziriat's body has now been found 5 Rescue crews were seen working to try and find the hikers in Italy Credit: soccorso alpino trentino 5 Aziz Ziriat, 36, went missing alongside Samuel Harris, 35 Credit: PA 5 His body was found today after rescuers launched a search mission months ago to find the missing Brit. The Trentino Alpine and Speleological Rescue team are now recovering Aziz's remains. His pal Harris was found dead back in January, and his body was covered under deep layers of snow. The pair failed to get on their flight back home on January 6, and they had stopped answering their phones. Aziz's mobile phone, card and glasses were all discovered close to Harris' body, but no sign of him was found. Family and friends of the pair flew out to the Italian region to help with the rescue efforts. The last known location of the duo was near a mountain hut called Casina Dosson, close to the town of Tione Di Trento. Their families later revealed the men planned to go between huts in the mountain range for a special New Year's hike. Most read in The Sun Video shared with The Telegraph showed Aziz preparing to hike the mountain range with Sam before the fatal climb. In the clip, he films the mountain range as well as a stone shelter where the friends are believed to have stayed overnight. He says: "Happy New Year! Woken up to some delightful sunshine, blue skies. "There has not been a cloud in the sky since we got here, which is slightly unnerving but also quite jokes." He adds: "I want to attack this today, get up into some of the 3,000 bits which are up yonder. "Looking forward to a day scampering, we are not taking our packs today, for the last two days lugging up this God-forsaken valley, another day frolicking before schlepping over to the next valley." Rebecca Dimmock, the girlfriend of Aziz, called the pair "experienced hikers". She revealed she last spoke to her boyfriend on New Year's Day - shortly after the video was recorded, according to Rebecca said: "He said his phone was about to die but he would write back to me properly soon. "I know they made it to the hut, and they were drinking red wine, but he said it was freezing." More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online Read more on the Irish Sun is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at 5 W7HP5Y Climbers progress on the Santner Pass via ferrata climb to the Santner Pass hut refuge in the Rosengarten area of the italian Dolomites the Alto Adige Credit: Alamy
