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The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Peru Two's Michaella McCollum ‘couldn't survive prison horrors' Brit ‘smugglers' Bella Culley & Charlotte Lee may face
MICHAELLA McCollum of the notorious Peru Two has warned that accused Brit drug smugglers Bella Culley and Charlotte Lee will go through unbearable prison horrors. The infamous drug smuggler turned influencer branded the pair "victims", and said she could not endure the conditions Culley and Lee may have to face. 14 Former drug mule turned author, mum and public speaker Michaella McCollum has spoken on Bella Culley and Charlotte Lee Credit: Instagram/@Michaella_McCollum 14 Charlotte Lee was arrested in Sri Lanka after cops found two suitcases stuffed with 46kg of synthetic drug kush Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 14 Bella Culley was arrested in Tbilisi airport, Georgia, with a suitcase packed with drugs Credit: Facebook As one half of the notorious Peru Two, McCollum, 31, served three years in a hardcore prison near Lima when she was convicted of drug smuggling in 2013. Alongside Melissa Reid, the two were arrested at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, The now mum-of-two said of Culley and Lee: "I could not do 20 years in a prison like that. I just couldn't. And that's what those girls are facing." read more world news Culley, 18, and Lee, 21, are facing similar but unrelated She faces 15 years to life in jail in the eastern European former Soviet state. She is being held in watchtower-ringed Penitentiary No 5 near Tbilisi while prosecutors probe how she came to have the £200,000 stash and who she planned to hand it to. Most read in The Sun Meanwhile, If Bella Culley's dad stands by daughter amid fears drug gangs are targeting Brit backpackers The Brit claimed that she didn't know she was Her friends revealed that she has been struggling behind bars since her arrest due to the shocking conditions. The part-time nail technician told pals she has not been allowed medication, and detailed how her cleaning regime consists of 'having a glass of water poured over her head'. McCollum, who has endured similar She was 19 at the time of her arrest, alongside her pal who she had recently met Reid, who was 20. The mum compared her story to those of Lee and Culley. She said: "The situation was almost exactly the same. Her mum had reported her missing, then it emerged that she'd been arrested. "There were such parallels with my case – except it was just in a different country." 14 Michaella McCollum (L) entering the Sarita Colonia jail with a police escort in October, 2013 Credit: EPA 14 Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, seen in court in Tbilisi Credit: East2West 14 Charloitte May Lee, 21, former TUI flight attendant from Coulsdon, seen after she appeared in court in Colombo, Sri Lanka Credit: Enterprise 14 She added: "I couldn't help but feel bad for them. "They are 19 and 21. Whatever they have done, it's so young to be caught up in something like this, and I know what they are going to go through. "And their families. It's the worst thing anybody can have to face." Culley's situation also took a nightmare twist, after she told a Tbilisi court that she was pregnant. McCollum said: "As a mum, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to give birth in that sort of place, and to potentially have the child taken from you and put into care. How might the cases of Bella Culley and Charlotte May be connected? Within a single day of Bella Culley's arrest, While the two arrests took place over 3,000 miles apart, people immediately noted It is believed to be likely that Georgian and Sri Lankan authorities will launch a joint investigation Both women are said to have departed from the same airport - Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport - allegedly with the drugs on them In both cases, the drugs were stashed in airtight packages that suggest a level of professionalism Both women had told their loved ones that they planned on meeting a mystery man during their travels in Thailand: Bella's grandad said she mentioned a man called "Ross or Russ", while Charlotte's friends said she made vague comments about meeting a man "That adds a whole new, terrifying, dimension. It's just incredibly sad." The smuggler turned public speaker also said the accused pair need more public sympathy, but cautioned that she also understands they may have made mistakes, as she did. "It's easy to look at girls like this and think 'how could you be so stupid?' but I look back at myself and think exactly that," she said. "I don't know the circumstances in detail here, but I do know that of all the women I came across who had been involved in drug smuggling, only about 10 per cent were doing it as a business , who knew the risks and accepted them." She continued: "The vast majority were the victims of some sort of coercion, usually by men. 14 Welikada prison, where Lee may be thrown into, is reported to be infested with maggots and rats 14 The exterior of Tbilisi Prison No.5, Georgia's only female prison where Culley may have to serve Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk 14 View of the containment areas of the Ancon 2 prison, where McCollum served her sentence Credit: AFP 14 "Prisons all over the world are full of women who have been caught up in something like this." Lee has already told cops about a mysterious Brit man called "Dan". She claims to have met him on a beach in Thailand before he bought her a ticket to Colombo, promised to join her but then suddenly vanished. McCollum said she was only regarded as a "victim" after a 2022 Netflix documentary exploring the Peru Two case. She said: "It was when I was watching an actress do some of the re-enactments of my story that I realised there had been exploitation and coercion going on here. "At the time I was so high (on cocaine) that I could barely walk. Yet the men around me were all sober. "I thought they were my friends, but actually they didn't give a s**t about me." McCollum was offered a mere £5,000 to smuggle the drugs she was caught with. "I mean who would risk spending 20 years of your life in prison for £3,000 or £4,000 or even £10,000," she reflected. "Even £50,000 isn't enough. No amount of money is worth your freedom." The 31-year-old has also written a book detailing her experience, and worked with police to tell her story to impressionable teens. More than a decade on from her harrowing story, the former drug mule is now a public speaker, wife and author who's estimated net worth nearly £1million. 14 Michaella McCollum is now a mum-of-two and author Credit: Instagram/@Michaella_McCollum 14 Part-time beautician Lee was arrested on May 12 after stepping off a flight to Sri Lanka from Thailand Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 14 Culley revealed to court that she was pregnant Credit: Social media - Refer to source
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Peru Two's Michaella McCollum ‘couldn't survive prison horrors' Brit ‘smugglers' Bella Culley & Charlotte Lee may face
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MICHAELLA McCollum of the notorious Peru Two has warned that accused Brit drug smugglers Bella Culley and Charlotte Lee will go through unbearable prison horrors. The infamous drug smuggler turned influencer branded the pair "victims", and said she could not endure the conditions Culley and Lee may have to face. 14 Former drug mule turned author, mum and public speaker Michaella McCollum has spoken on Bella Culley and Charlotte Lee Credit: Instagram/@Michaella_McCollum 14 Charlotte Lee was arrested in Sri Lanka after cops found two suitcases stuffed with 46kg of synthetic drug kush Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 14 Bella Culley was arrested in Tbilisi airport, Georgia, with a suitcase packed with drugs Credit: Facebook As one half of the notorious Peru Two, McCollum, 31, served three years in a hardcore prison near Lima when she was convicted of drug smuggling in 2013. Alongside Melissa Reid, the two were arrested at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, after it was discovered that their suitcases contained a shocking £1.5million of cocaine between them. Mule turned author McCollum also detailed how she was forced to survive on maggot-infested paella and flick away cockroaches approaching her on the dining tables. The now mum-of-two said of Culley and Lee: "I could not do 20 years in a prison like that. I just couldn't. And that's what those girls are facing." Culley, 18, and Lee, 21, are facing similar but unrelated drug smuggling charges and have both been locked up far away from home with little hope of getting out. Culley was arrested on May 11 in Tbilisi airport, Georgia, with a suitcase packed with 31lb of cannabis and hashish after flying from Thailand via Sharjah in the UAE. She faces 15 years to life in jail in the eastern European former Soviet state. She is being held in watchtower-ringed Penitentiary No 5 near Tbilisi while prosecutors probe how she came to have the £200,000 stash and who she planned to hand it to. Meanwhile, Lee was arrested earlier this month in Sri Lanka after cops found two suitcases stuffed with 46kg of synthetic drug kush — which is 25 times more potent than opioid fentanyl. If found guilty, the South Londoner could face a 25-year sentence. Bella Culley's dad stands by daughter amid fears drug gangs are targeting Brit backpackers The Brit claimed that she didn't know she was smuggling drugs into Sri Lanka before she was detained - and called her allegations 'made up'. Her friends revealed that she has been struggling behind bars since her arrest due to the shocking conditions. The part-time nail technician told pals she has not been allowed medication, and detailed how her cleaning regime consists of 'having a glass of water poured over her head'. McCollum, who has endured similar hardship in foreign prisons, was also a very young adult when she made the "greatest mistake of my life". She was 19 at the time of her arrest, alongside her pal who she had recently met Reid, who was 20. The mum compared her story to those of Lee and Culley. She said: "The situation was almost exactly the same. Her mum had reported her missing, then it emerged that she'd been arrested. "There were such parallels with my case – except it was just in a different country." 14 Michaella McCollum (L) entering the Sarita Colonia jail with a police escort in October, 2013 Credit: EPA 14 Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, seen in court in Tbilisi Credit: East2West 14 Charloitte May Lee, 21, former TUI flight attendant from Coulsdon, seen after she appeared in court in Colombo, Sri Lanka Credit: Enterprise 14 She added: "I couldn't help but feel bad for them. "They are 19 and 21. Whatever they have done, it's so young to be caught up in something like this, and I know what they are going to go through. "And their families. It's the worst thing anybody can have to face." Culley's situation also took a nightmare twist, after she told a Tbilisi court that she was pregnant. McCollum said: "As a mum, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to give birth in that sort of place, and to potentially have the child taken from you and put into care. How might the cases of Bella Culley and Charlotte May be connected? Within a single day of Bella Culley's arrest, Charlotte May, 21, was arrested in Sri Lanka after allegedly being caught trying to smuggle drugs worth £1.2m While the two arrests took place over 3,000 miles apart, people immediately noted striking similarities It is believed to be likely that Georgian and Sri Lankan authorities will launch a joint investigation Both women are said to have departed from the same airport - Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport - allegedly with the drugs on them In both cases, the drugs were stashed in airtight packages that suggest a level of professionalism Both women had told their loved ones that they planned on meeting a mystery man during their travels in Thailand: Bella's grandad said she mentioned a man called "Ross or Russ", while Charlotte's friends said she made vague comments about meeting a man "That adds a whole new, terrifying, dimension. It's just incredibly sad." The smuggler turned public speaker also said the accused pair need more public sympathy, but cautioned that she also understands they may have made mistakes, as she did. "It's easy to look at girls like this and think 'how could you be so stupid?' but I look back at myself and think exactly that," she said. "I don't know the circumstances in detail here, but I do know that of all the women I came across who had been involved in drug smuggling, only about 10 per cent were doing it as a business, who knew the risks and accepted them." She continued: "The vast majority were the victims of some sort of coercion, usually by men. 14 Welikada prison, where Lee may be thrown into, is reported to be infested with maggots and rats 14 The exterior of Tbilisi Prison No.5, Georgia's only female prison where Culley may have to serve Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk 14 View of the containment areas of the Ancon 2 prison, where McCollum served her sentence Credit: AFP 14 "Prisons all over the world are full of women who have been caught up in something like this." Lee has already told cops about a mysterious Brit man called "Dan". She claims to have met him on a beach in Thailand before he bought her a ticket to Colombo, promised to join her but then suddenly vanished. McCollum said she was only regarded as a "victim" after a 2022 Netflix documentary exploring the Peru Two case. She said: "It was when I was watching an actress do some of the re-enactments of my story that I realised there had been exploitation and coercion going on here. "At the time I was so high (on cocaine) that I could barely walk. Yet the men around me were all sober. "I thought they were my friends, but actually they didn't give a s**t about me." McCollum was offered a mere £5,000 to smuggle the drugs she was caught with. "I mean who would risk spending 20 years of your life in prison for £3,000 or £4,000 or even £10,000," she reflected. "Even £50,000 isn't enough. No amount of money is worth your freedom." The 31-year-old has also written a book detailing her experience, and worked with police to tell her story to impressionable teens. More than a decade on from her harrowing story, the former drug mule is now a public speaker, wife and author who's estimated net worth nearly £1million. 14 Michaella McCollum is now a mum-of-two and author Credit: Instagram/@Michaella_McCollum 14 Part-time beautician Lee was arrested on May 12 after stepping off a flight to Sri Lanka from Thailand Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
Metro
7 days ago
- Metro
British couple arrested in Spain after '33kg of cannabis found in suitcases'
Charlotte May Lee, 21, Coulsdon, south London Lee, 21, was arrested in Sri Lanka on May 12, having flown in from Bangkok, Thailand. Security discovered 46kg of Kush – a synthetic form of cannabis – found in her suitcase. The former stewardess from Coulsdon, south London, insists she had 'no idea' about the £1.2million drugs haul. Her luggage must have been repacked without her knowledge, she told police, by a man she called 'Dan'. The people who planted the drugs 'were supposed to meet me here,' she told a reporter from jail. 'But now I'm stuck here in this jail.' Lee, who has denied wrongdoing, could face up to 25 years behind bars if she is convicted. Bella May Culley, 18, Billingham, Teesside After Culley went missing while on holiday in Thailand, the last place her family expected to find her was Georgia. Culley had been arrested for drug offences at Tbilisi airport on May 10 after allegedly carrying 14kg of cannabis. Like Lee, she had also flown alone from Bangkok. She spent weeks posting on social media about her travels, including her partying in Palawan and referencing Bonnie and Clyde. The student nurse, who told the courts she is pregnant, could face up to 20 years in the country's only women's jail, Prison No. 5. Inmates have long complained about the 'degrading' treatment they face inside the jail's beige walls, where new prisoners face 'humiliating' inspections when they are ordered to be naked. Thomas Parker, 32, Cumbria Parker collected a package from a motorcycle taxi driver not far from his villa on Kuta Beach, Bali, on January 21. When he saw police officers on patrol nearby, he chucked the package and ran, according to court documents. Forensics found the package contained a kilo of MDMA, a class A drug also known as ecstasy. The electrician told police he was asked to pick up the parcel by a friend, who said someone else would then collect it from him. Officials charged Parker with drug smuggling, which in Indonesia meant he faced the death penalty by firing squad if found guilty. But after police found he had no ties to the package, he was charged with a lesser crime and sentenced in May to 10 months in jail. Isabella Daggett, 21, Yorkshire Daggett moved to Dubai for work in March. Within weeks, she was arrested during a drug raid in the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) capital. Her family say she was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' and said she has never used illegal substances. What charges Daggett faces have not been made public, other than that she was arrested with another man. Her grandmother, Heather Smith, told the DailyMail: 'He may be guilty of something, but she isn't.' The UAE has strict anti-drug trafficking laws. Penalties range from fines of at least £100,000 and prison sentences to the death penalty. Browne-Frater Chyna Jada, 22 Jada was arrested after allegedly trying to smuggle 18kg of cannabis on a flight from Accra, Ghana, to Gatwick. The authorities allege they found 32 slabs of drugs in her bag, with a street value of around £170,000. Jada denies wrongdoing, telling officials that her boyfriend, known only as 'Joey', packed the bag and told her it contained alcohol and spices. Ghana's anti-drug agency had identified her as a person of interest after receiving a tip from foreign intelligence officials. She faces charges of attempted exportation of narcotic drugs, conspiracy to commit a crime, and unlawful possession or control of narcotic drugs without lawful authority. Mark Siemaszkiewicz, 46, Richard McMahon, 46, Oluwatosin Peace Adefila, 27, and Bose Esther Fakuade, 26, To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Security guards at Samui Airport, on Thailand's second-largest island, thought something was up when they saw the suitcases of four Britons. When they pried the bags open, they found 144kg worth of cannabis with a street value of about £345,000. Siemaszkiewicz, McMahon, Adefila and Fakuade were accused of trying to take the marijuana out of Thailand via a flight to London Heathrow. While cannabis is legal in Thailand, it is illegal to export it. The confiscated cannabis was grown on a farm in Koh Samui.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
British woman held in Sri Lanka on drug offences
A British woman has been arrested in Sri Lanka after police allegedly found 101lbs (46kg) of the synthetic drug kush in her suitcase. Custom officers posed for pictures with bags of drugs they accuse Charlotte May Lee, 21, from south London, of attempting to smuggle into the country earlier this month. The former flight attendant denies knowing there were drugs in her suitcase and says she believes they were planted there. Ms Lee is being held in a prison north of the south Asian country's capital, Colombo, and is contact with her family, her lawyer told the BBC. She could face up to 25 years in prison if found guilty. Her legal representative, Sampath Perera, told the BBC his team was visiting her daily in prison in the city of Negombo, to provide support and monitor her wellbeing. A senior officer in the Sri Lanka Customs Narcotics Control Unit said the seizure at Colombo's Bandaranaike Airport on 5 May was the biggest in its history. Ms Lee told Mail Online on Wednesday: "I had never seen them [the drugs] 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." She told the paper she had been in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, prior to the flight, and packed her suitcase in her hotel room before heading out for the night. "They must have planted it then," she said. "I know who did it." She did not check her bag again before heading to Colombo, where she was arrested on 12 May, said Ms Lee. Ms Lee went to Sri Lanka as her visa was about to expire and she wanted a trip somewhere nearby before heading back to Thailand, she told the newspaper. She added that she faces harsh conditions in the prison, including sleeping on a concrete floor. Ms Lee is said to have flown from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport around the same time as another British woman, Bella Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, who is being held in Georgia on suspicion of drug offences. The BBC understands Miss Culley arrived in Tbilisi on a flight from the United Arab Emirates on 10 May. Three days later Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs said Miss Culley was accused of "illegally purchasing and storing a particularly large amount of narcotics, illegally purchasing and storing the narcotic drug marijuana, and illegally importing it into Georgia". A senior customs officer in Sri Lanka told the BBC: "On the same day, another passenger who had left Bangkok airport, almost at the same time, was arrested in another country. We arrested this lady [Ms Lee] based on profiling." He said there had been a massive increase in drugs coming via Bangkok into Sri Lanka. "This has been a real nuisance." Ms Culley could face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment if found guilty. She is being detained before trial while Georgian authorities investigate where 26lbs (12kg) of marijuana and 4.4lbs (2kg) of hashish found in a travel bag came from, and whether she was planning on handing it over to someone else.
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Pregnant 'drug smuggling' Brit's 'hellhole' prison - no hygiene or running water
Bella May Culley, 18, must endure a roughly 55 day wait at Tblisi's Women's Prison No 5 as lawyers gather evidence pertinent to her case before it goes to trial this summer Bella May Culley's nightmare incarceration has seen the teenager left in a "hellhole" facility known for its lack of running water and bad hygiene. Ms Culley, 18, from Teesside, popped up unexpectedly in Georgia last week claiming to be pregnant and accused of having transported dozens of packets of cannabis into the former Soviet nation - just days after her family had reported her missing in Thailand. Authorities in the former Soviet nation have kept her in custody after a judge decided she could pose a flight risk, interning her at Tblisi's only women's prison, the infamous Women's Prison No 5. Ms Culley will spend several weeks tucked away in No 5 as lawyers gather evidence, with the process set to take around 55 days, though this could be longer. Running water issues A report submitted by the Ombudsman of Georgia in 2015 found that the facility where Ms Culley is currently staying had several issues with water. Among them, the report found, is that running water in the cells is "unsuitable for drinking", something that has caused "dissatisfaction among the convicts". The report adds that people also don't have easy access to hot water, despite the need for convicts to "wash their dishes and personal items". It also states: "Often there is a need for special personal hygiene measures, for example during an inmate's menstrual cycle." Cold water, the authors state, "impacts negatively on a woman's health, possibly causing skin irritation, narrowing blood vessels and worsening blood circulation". They add: "Inflammation of small bones in the hands (rheumatoid arthritis) can develop and cause deformation." Poor hygiene Two ombudsman visits in 2023 came after inmates complained about the lack of access to proper hygiene, an issue that had persisted since the 2015 report. The report state that prisoners were not provided with tampons or sanitary towels, and that people who cannot buy them are forced to use other, "often unhygenic" materials instead. The earlier report stated that hygiene standards at No 5 were "violated significantly" in the facility's bathrooms, and even made mention of conditions for foreign inmates. Authors said "special attention" should be paid to ensure "foreign citizen inmates are provided with products for personal hygiene". It adds that this is required as "communication with their family members is limited and they are not able to receive parcels as frequently as local inmates." Invasive inspections The same report mentions that prisoners have also complained about "degrading" treatment, especially when they are joining the population as new intake. New intake prisoners, the report said, are "inspected naked and are requested to squat", something inmates said felt "degrading." The report added: "It should be mentioned that such inspections take place every time an accused/convicted person enters or leaves the penitentiary facility. According to inmates, this procedure is especially humiliating and intensive during an inmate's menstrual cycle. In some cases, because of the nature of such procedures, inmates refuse services offered outside of the facility or choose to miss court hearings."
