Latest news with #CustomsOfficers
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Brit is arrested with a suitcase 'stuffed with £100,000 of cannabis' travelling from Bangkok to UK - the latest to be detained with drugs after leaving Thailand
A British man has been busted trying to smuggle a suitcase stuffed with cannabis from Bangkok to Newcastle as cops crack down on a fast-developing drug route from the Thai capital. The arrest took place at Vienna International Airport, a city airport on the outskirts of the Austrian capital on 27th May. The 31-year-old suspect was stopped during a transit stop on his way to Newcastle via Frankfurt and was led away in handcuffs to be locked up in preventive custody at the Korneuburg prison. Customs officers found 11.3 kilograms (24.9lb) 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 €113,000 (£95,000). 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. The arrest is part of a growing number of similar cases involving drug couriers flying out of Thailand. Just yesterday, it was revealed that a British couple who claimed to be tourists coming from Thailand were arrested at a Spanish airport with more than 33 kilograms of cannabis in their suitcases. The pair were remanded in custody after suspicious officers picked them out from other passengers arriving at Valencia Airport because of their 'nervous and evasive attitude.' The man and woman, aged 33 and 34 respectively, had arrived on a flight from France and were carrying two large pieces of luggage and said they had nothing to declare. But when the bags were checked with X-ray scanners, security staff discovered that they were carrying no clothing or personal belongings. The bags were instead packed with vacuum-sealed bags of a plant-based substance, which was taken to be tested and discovered to be cannabis. They were arrested late on May 5 and were hauled into court the next day, accused of drug trafficking. They were remanded in prison as the investigation continues, and are not expected to know for several months whether they will be formally indicted and face trial. Meanwhile, Eighteen-year-old Bella Culley, from Billingham, Teesside, was arrested in Georgia on May 11, alleged to have been caught trying to bring some £200,000 worth of cannabis and hashish into the country via the UAE after an apparent leisure trip to Thailand. Culley has yet to tell her lawyer how she came to be in possession of the narcotics. Soon after, it emerged that a British former cabin crew member, 21-year-old Charlotte May Lee, had been arrested in Sri Lanka, accused of trying to bring 46kg of cannabis into the country - again, from Thailand. The Mail revealed that Culley had told a source close to her legal case that she had flown to the South East Asian country 'for love', but has still 'said nothing about why she had the drugs'. Lee is understood to have travelled to Thailand for her birthday in April before stopping back in the U.K. She mentioned having found a 'job on a boat', but did not tell friends she was planning to return. How and why she ended up in Colombo, Sri Lanka, allegedly with bags of vacuum-packed cannabis, remains a mystery. Relatives say she, too, had made vague comments about meeting a man in Thailand, The Sun reports. She left Bangkok Airport within hours of Culley. Jemal Janashia, a former police general in Georgia and one of the country's top drug crime experts, told the Mail that local investigators will be keen to explore 'the possibility of a link' between the two cases. He hauntingly added: 'Thai gangs may be attempting to recruit vulnerable British travellers'. 'The fact that two young British women have taken off with large quantities of drugs from the same airport will interest investigators,' Mr Janashia told the Mail. 'They will be concerned about the possibility of a link and that Thai gangs may be attempting to recruit vulnerable British travellers.'
The Sun
28-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
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. 1 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. 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 a British couple claiming to be tourists from Thailand were busted with more than 33kg of cannabis in their suitcases at a Spanish airport. 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. 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 arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia, allegedly carrying 14kg of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation. 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 46 kg of 'Kush' - a synthetic strain of cannabis - in her suitcase. 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. 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. '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. 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. He was intercepted after his luggage was put through an airport scanner.
