Latest news with #SampathPerera
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
British woman accused of drug offences appears in Sri Lanka court
A British woman accused of attempting to smuggle a large quantity of cannabis into Sri Lanka has appeared in court in the May Lee, 21, from south London, was arrested earlier this month after authorities allegedly found 46kg of the drug in her suitcases when she arrived on a flight from Thailand. She has not yet been charged, but has previously denied knowing the alleged drugs were in her luggage. If found guilty, she could face up to 25 years behind to the BBC from prison before her court appearance, Ms Lee said she had travelled from Bangkok to the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo to renew her Thai visa. The former flight attendant arrived at Negombo Magistrate's Court on Friday wearing a white knee-length dress, her long hair parted to the side. She was making a procedural court appearance while the investigation into her alleged offences continues. Ms Lee was held in a cell at the back of the courtroom before being brought to the witness box. She was visibly upset as she stood with her hands crossed behind her back, facing the wheeled in a large brown box containing the alleged 46kg of cannabis found in Ms Lee's luggage. The narcotics division of the Sri Lanka police told the court they intend to file an update on the investigation. Ms Lee's lawyer, Sampath Perera, asked if the alleged drugs had been examined by the relevant government authorities to ascertain if the materials were in fact an illegal substance. The magistrate ordered it to be tested and for a report to be submitted to the court as soon as possible. Speaking to the BBC from a prison an hour outside of Colombo, Ms Lee appeared to be in good spirits. She described her living conditions, saying she shares a cell with five other women and sleeps on a thin mattress on the concrete floor, using whatever clothes she has as a pillow. That is where she spends most of her day, she said, although she does get to go outside for fresh air."I can't compare it to anything," she said. "I have never been to prison and I've never been to Sri Lanka. This heat and just sitting on a concrete floor all of the time."Ms Lee said she tries not to dwell too much on her current predicament."I am not trying to think about it. If I think, then I feel bad. I'll still rather not process it."Ms Lee said she is concerned for the other women who are also in prison."There are people from so many different countries who have been here for two years, two-and-a-half years. And it's still just waiting and no-one actually knows anything."She has managed to find other English-speaking women with whom she has developed a kinship. But she has not been able to speak with her family since her to the BBC from outside the courthouse after the hearing, Mr Perera said the next step is to make a bail application for Ms Lee, which could take three Sri Lankan law, people being held on remand must appear before a judge every 14 days. Ms Lee is being held on suspicion of keeping illegal drugs in her possession and drug smuggling. Her next court appearance will be on 13 July. Additional reporting by Charlotte Scarr
News.com.au
6 days ago
- News.com.au
Former flight attendant caught smuggling deadly new drug
A former flight attendant caught smuggling over 45kg of a deadly new synthetic drug made of human bones faces up to 25 years in a Sri Lankan prison. Charlotte May Lee, 21, from the United Kingdom, was seized at Bandaranaike Airport in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo earlier this month after allegedly carrying suitcases full of 'kush,' a new drug originating in West Africa which kills an estimated dozen people a week in Sierra Leone alone. Lee, from south London, claimed the drug stash — which has a reported street value of $3.3 million — was planted in her suitcases without her knowledge, her lawyer, Sampath Perera, told the BBC. She is being held in harsh conditions in a jail north of Colombo where she has to sleep on a concrete floor, though Mr Perera said she's been in contact with her family. The haul made on May 12 is the biggest seizure of the relatively new drug in Sri Lankan history. Customs officers posed proudly with the stash, which could land Lee a 25-year prison sentence if she is found guilty of smuggling. Lee had been working in Thailand when she was forced to leave because her 30-day visa was due to run out, so she decided to take a three-hour flight to Sri Lanka while she waited for the renewal of her Thai visa, her lawyer said. '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,' Lee told the Daily Mail from prison. She also implied she knew who had 'planted' the drugs in her suitcases, but wouldn't name them. 'They must have planted it then,' she said. 'I know who did it.' Kush, which is most popular with young men, can cause individuals to fall asleep while walking, collapse unexpectedly and even wander into moving traffic. One of the drug's many ingredients is reportedly human bones, and the insatiable desire for the substance has even led to ghoulish grave robbers raiding cemeteries in Sierra Leone. The country's president declared a state of emergency over abuse of kush last year, while security has reportedly been tightened in graveyards to stop the digging up of skeletons. Branding kush a 'death trap,' Sierra Leone's President, Julius Maada Bio, said the drug posed an 'existential crisis' to his nation. Lee flew out of Bangkok around the same time as another young British woman was facing drug smuggling charges. Bella Culley, from County Durham, northeast England, was arrested in the former Soviet nation of Georgia on May 10 after allegedly flying to the capital, Tbilisi, via the United Arab Emirates with more than 13kg of marijuana and hashish in her luggage. She is 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,' the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement earlier this year. Sri Lankan authorities have warned of a huge increase in drugs arriving in the country via Bangkok. 'Another passenger who had left Bangkok airport, almost at the same time, was arrested in another country. We arrested this lady [Lee] based on profiling,' a senior Sri Lanka customs officer told the BBC. 'This has been a rule nuisance,' he added, referring to the drug scourge.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- BBC News
British woman accused of smuggling drugs into Sri Lanka in suitcase
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 Thai 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.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 the authorities investigates 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.
