Latest news with #TbilisiAirport
Metro
03-06-2025
- Health
- Metro
‘I'm a reformed drug smuggler – this is how mules will be feeling on flights'
A former drug smuggler who took around 300 flights carrying hash or heroin has told how his 'heart would be pounding out of my chest' as he stood waiting for his luggage. Mark Dempster, who is now a Harley Street counsellor, told how he was wracked with 'fear' and 'adrenalisation' as he flew the illicit cargo across the globe, including into the UK. The 60-year-old spoke as a number of young British nationals including Bella May Culley await their fate in foreign jails having been arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs. It's believed that crime syndicates are targeting young Westerners to use as mules for the transportation of legally grown cannabis out of Thailand. The father-of-two's knowledge of the international criminal underworld comes from his time as a drug dealer and smuggler who travelled the globe in search of the best product. Starting at the age of 20, he spent more than a decade flying drugs on long-haul trips by either secreting the product inside his body or stashing it inside his luggage or in his clothes. 'I was never a mule, I always smuggled for myself, but the feelings are similar,' Mark said. 'There's fear and adrenalisation. 'You package the drugs in the bag as best you can, with a false bottom on the bag, or you can put it in clothing or your shoes, depending on the size of what you're trying to smuggle. 'Fundamentally, I would be thinking of what mode of transport I would be getting, whether it be a flight or a boat, and what customs would be like at the time of arrival. 'I would map out things like what terminal at Heathrow would be most busy in the early hours of the morning. 'But actually none of it might be relevant; there might be loads of customs for some unknown reason. 'When I was at the carousel my heart would be beating out of my chest. 'You try and stagger and look where it's busier when you go through the green zone and conceal youself among other people. 'You try and imagine yourself in another scenario in order not to exhibit the fear of carrying drugs through customs that could get you say, five years in prison. You can't stay in that thought process, you have to imagine yourself somewhere else.' Drug smuggling allegations have come into full glare after the arrest of Bella, from Billingham on Teesside, in Georgia. The 18-year-old went missing in Thailand three weeks ago before it emerged she had been apprehended by the authorities at Tbilisi Airport. The aspiring nurse, who is said to be pregnant, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years or life imprisonment in the post-Soviet country if she is convicted over a cannabis haul worth £200,000. Her case was followed by that of Charlotte May Lee, 21, who is currently in prison in Sri Lanka, also accused of trying to run the drug out of Thailand. Charlotte, from Coulsdon, South London, has protested her innocence from a notorious jail north of the capital Colombo and court proceedings are ongoing in both cases. All deny the drug smuggling accusations. Dozens of other cases involving British nationals have cropped up over the past 12 months. Mark, who now lives in Beaconsfield, would smuggle up to 10kg of hash in his luggage, worth around £90,000 today, on flights between India, Thailand, Amsterdam and the UK. He also carried smaller quantities of the resin wrapped in clingfilm and secreted inside his body via swallowing or rectal insertion. As he achieved his misguided ambition of becoming a large-scale drug dealer, Mark also smuggled heroin from Thailand and India to the UK between the 80s and mid-90s. 'One of my worries about carrying the drugs internally was whether they could spill out,' he said. 'If you feel sick on the plane you don't want to tell anyone because you will end up in prison. 'But you also know you might die if you don't.' The therapist has documented his escapades in his book, Nothing to Declare: Confessions of an Unsuccessful Drug Smuggler, Dealer and Addict, and helps others overcome their addictions. More Trending He told Metro that he made around 300 trips smuggling drugs and while he has served time in prison, he was never caught on a plane or in an airport. However, friends did end up in prison in Thailand, which the author described as 'a serious place to be.' He underwent detox and recovery, which included selling the Big Issue, on the road to Harley Street and staying clean for 28 years. He tells clients: 'I can help because I've been there, I know how to get out.' Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact MORE: Kids as young as 10 'being driven into county lines drug gangs by cost of living crisis' MORE: Police make stark warning over British 'drugs mule' found with record cannabis haul MORE: Why so many young Brits are being 'manipulated' into smuggling drugs
Daily Mirror
26-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Six horrors faced by Brit women locked up abroad accused of being 'drug mules'
Bella May Culley, 18, Charlotte May Lee, 21, and Isabella Daggett, 21, all face miserable conditions while locked up abroad - including 'degrading' inspections, packed cells and rabies-infected rats Three young British women are currently banged up abroad after being accused of drug offences - and all of them face horrific conditions while behind bars. Bella May Culley, 18, Charlotte May Lee, 21, and Isabella Daggett, 21, are all looking at lengthy sentences in 'rotting' foreign prisons if convicted. With all the women yet to learn their fate, they are currently being held in detention facilities where living conditions are far worse than what they would expect back in the UK - and face unique challenges while their loved ones worry for them at home. All three women deny the allegation. Freezing, overcrowded cells with no tampons Bella May Culley, from Billingham, County Durham, is accused of carrying about 14kg of cannabis and around 2kg of hashish into Georgia. She was caught at Tbilisi Airport days after her family reported her missing in Thailand. The 18-year-old, who has appeared in court for initial hearings, could be given life in prison if found guilty. Currently, the pregnant teenager shares a cell with two other detainees in the Women's Penitentiary Number Five in Georgia, close to the Russian border. Inspections have repeatedly uncovered serious problems with conditions inside the prison, including freezing cold cells with no access to drinking water or sanitary products In 2015 and again in 2023 reports found prisoners were not given tampons or sanitary towels, forcing those unable to buy them to resort to unhygienic alternatives. It stressed the need for "special attention" to ensure foreign detainees received hygiene products, as they had less family contact and fewer parcel deliveries than local inmates. 'Degrading' inspections There have also been concerns raised about 'degrading' treatment of inmates at the prison where Bella is being held. One report told how new inmates are "inspected naked and are requested to squat", a procedure described as "especially humiliating and intensive during an inmate's menstrual cycle." 'Hasn't had a shower for a month' Isabella Daggett, from Leeds, was arrested just five weeks after moving to start a new job in the United Arab Emirates. The 21-year-old's family insist she was taken by police simply for being "in the wrong place at the wrong time" and has never used drugs. The family also claim she has not been allowed to have a shower or even change her clothes in months after being banged up in a prison in March. They said: "She has had nothing. Women get treated far worse than male prisoners, who get to go outside, they get sports, a PlayStation and a television - Bella has nothing." 'No medical treatment' despite pregnancy Bellay May Culley's lawyers claim that she is pregnant - and say that she has not been given the medical attention she needs while in detention. Her solicitor Mariam Kublashvili said: "She is pregnant and needs medical care which she complained she wasn't getting – there were no tests or checks or medical examinations done, she told me. She said she asked for a doctor, but the doctor wasn't speaking English and they couldn't understand each other." Maggots found in food Charlotte May Lee was arrested for allegedly attempting to take £1.2m worth of the synthetic drug Kush into Sri Lanka on May 12. She is being held at Negombo Prison, located just north of the capital of Colombo, which has as a described as a "hell" for female inmates in particular. Maggots have reportedly been found in food, and rats have been scuttling around extremely overcrowded cells. Rabies-infected rats In one frightening account of the conditions Charlotte faces in the facility, a female prisoner previously said: "We are treated as far less than human. About 150 of us sleep in a cell designed for 75 people. "An open drain infested with rats runs the perimeter of the room. Recently, one of the inmates was bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital for an anti-rabies shot."
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
7 things we know as Bella May Culley struggles in Georgia jail on drugs charges
British teen Bella May Culley is currently languishing inside a hellhole jail in Georgia after she was arrested on suspicion of smuggling dozens of bags of drugs into the country. Culley, 18, sensationally told the court she was pregnant after she was detained for allegedly carrying about 12kg of cannabis and about 2kg of hashish into Georgia. Should the Teesside teen be found guilty, she faces a lengthy spell in prison, which could be a life sentence. The teen has been travelling around South East Asia in the weeks prior to her arrest and was reported missing in Thailand when she did not respond to her family's messages. Culley is now being held at Women's Prison No. 5, near the capital Tbilisi, where murderer Magda Papidze is understood to be held. She has complained about her medical care behind bars and the food she is being given by prison staff. Her lawyer explained Culley is "getting along well" with two cellmates. Culley's family have since raced to Georgia to support the teenager as she navigates the former Soviet Union nation's legal system. Culley shared several photos and videos from her travels across South East Asia, stating on TikTok she would "literally be up for anything" before drawing a hard limit at smoking or doing drugs. She added: "I will literally be up for anything. But if you ask me to smoke a fag or a vape or do any drug I will look at you like you are s*** on my shoe." Her mum Lyanne Kennedy said her daughter was not a fan of the "party lifestyle" and that she chose to take her trip to Thailand from the Philippines as part of a spur-of-the-moment decision instead of going with a friend to Spain. Ms Kennedy added she did not "trust some of the boys over there." Culley, from Billingham, County Durham, was detained at Tbilisi Airport on May 11 while she was the subject of a missing person's search operation in Thailand some 4,000 miles away. It is unclear whether Georgia was the intended destination or whether the drugs were meant to end up in another country. General Jemal Janashia, the former head of Georgia's national bureau, urged Culley to full cooperate with police. He also said he felt sorry for Culley, adding she was "clearly used and manipulated." The lawyer representing Culley revealed the prosecutor asked for 55 days to gather evidence against her. This indicates a trial against the teen could begin as soon as July. Bella May Culley complained she has not received medical care in prison despite her pregnancy. Lawyer Mariam Kublashvili said on Monday: "She is pregnant and needs medical care which she complained she wasn't getting – there were no tests or checks or medical examinations done, she told me. "She said she asked for a doctor, but the doctor wasn't speaking English and they couldn't understand each other." Culley made the stunning revelation that she was pregnant during a court appearance in Georgia following her arrest. Her family stated they were unaware she was pregnant until they heard her statement in court. Culley was said to be "visibly shaken" when she was informed about the severity of the alleged crime. Her state-appointed lawyer, Is Touda disclosed: "When I explained to her that what she was accused of was an especially severe crime then she was concerned and visibly shaken." When asked about whether Culley realised the full extent of the allegations against her, Ms Touda added: "My impression was that she ended up in Georgia without even knowing what she was doing. She looked like she didn't expect it to have such severe consequences." Should Culley be found guilty, she could face a life sentence in prison in the worst-case scenario. Culley is being held in Georgia's only female prison just outside of the capital Tbilisi. Women's Prison No. 5 has been the subject of controversy in the past with prisoners having complained about "degrading" treatment. A 2015 report from a monitoring group with the Georgian Public Ombudsman revealed the new intake of prisoners are "inspected naked and are requested to squat" which inmates said they found to be "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." Bella mentioned that she had met a man called "Russ" or "Ross" while she was travelling in the Philippines. The man remains unidentified but authorities are investigation any possible connection he might have to Culley's alleged subsequent activities. Her granddad William Culley, 80, revealed she had spent most of March in Thailand but also that she met "Ross or Russ" in the Philippines. He added: "She's got sucked into something, somehow." Culley's family raced to Georgia after it emerged she had been detained in the country. Family members alerted authorities in Thailand after she did not message them back. Her dad Niel and aunt Kerrie visited Ia Touda on Friday although it was unclear whether they had met Culley. They arrived in the country after the allegations were made against Culley. "She has the right to demand this short-term visit from her family, through the decision of the prosecution," Ms Touda previously added. "She's not cut off from outside contact. She is allowed small meetings."
Daily Mirror
15-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Bella May Culley faces life in sewage-filled cell where 3 inmates share 1 bed
Reports into Georgia's hellhole jails make for terrifying reading for the British 18-year-old, who has been told she can expect life or 20 years in prison after being accused of attempting to smuggle 30lbs of cannabis into the country A chilling report into Georgian prisons were Bella May Cullen is expected to serve her sentence if found guilty describes hellhole jails with filthy, sewage-filled cells, 75 people sharing 25 beds and brutal punishment for anyone who steps out of line. The British teenager, accused of attempting to smuggle 30lbs of cannabis through an airport, could face a lifetime behind bars. The 18-year-old nursing student from Billingham, County Durham, was the subject of an international search, with her parents having reported her missing, when she was arrested at Tbilisi Airport. She faces drug smuggling charges which could mean life sentence or 20 years in jail. The Tbilisi Prison No 5 is Georgia's only women's correctional facility, where female prisoners are sent from all over the country, and where Bella could spend the next nine months before her trial. But a report by Human Rights Watch revealed the 'inhuman and degrading' conditions inside the country's grim Soviet-era prisons, where Bella May may end up being locked up for the rest of her life. The human rights group, which visited Tbilisi remand Prison No 5 in May 2006, described chronic overcrowding, with 3,559 prisoners crammed into a facility designed to hold 1,800 - and growing by 18 new detainees every day. Overcrowded cells allowed just one square metre or less per prisoner, their report found, with some cells having one bed for every three inmates. One cell with just 25 beds held 75 people. One prisoner who was detained at the jail for several weeks described his cell as 'a wild place' where they took turns to sleep and where sometimes three people slept together in a bed. Another said: 'It is so crowded here, I could go crazy.' The report described how 'the walls and floors are crumbling and in a state of disrepair. Electrical wires are exposed in the cells and corridors. The toilets are partitioned from the rest of the cell by only a short wall or sometimes with a piece of fabric or shower curtain that the inmates have put up themselves. This design allows for very little privacy for those using the sanitary facilities. Because of the overcrowding, beds are often placed very close to the toilets. The toilets are decaying and filthy. 'All of the cells in Tbilisi Prison No. 5 visited by Human Rights Watch smelled strongly of human sweat, human excrement, and cigarette smoke. Detainees spend consecutive days and weeks in these cells without being allowed outside. 'The cells were also unreasonably hot, due to the overcrowding and lack of ventilation. Many prisoners were reduced to wearing very little clothing in an effort to stay cool.' Human Rights Watch described how one inmate at Tbilisi Prison No. 5 had been held in solitary confinement in a basement quarantine cell for eight months. One former detainee who was held in the quarantine cell for 24 hours, struggled to describe his experience. 'No, I can't talk about it, really,' he said. 'The conditions in this cell were indescribable. This is a very old room. The sewage from the second floor runs down into this room. There is a swamp of this stuff on the floor of this cell.' Detainees in nearby Prison No 7 claimed they only showered once every three weeks. One lawyer representing inmates said: 'When people were first brought to Tbilisi Prison No. 7, they weren't allowed to wash for two months. People must share one bar of soap in the shower and razors are used by many people.' The report also described how 'many prisoners have been subjected to beatings and other ill-treatment, sometimes rising to the level of torture. What is more, the government's latest anti-crime efforts have led to an increase in the prison population and have apparently led to government approval of a policy of quick resort to severe physical force, including lethal force, to maintain control over the prisons. During one disturbance at Tbilisi Prison No 5 government troops, including special forces, stormed the facility, shooting detainees with live ammunition and rubber bullets, killing seven inmates and injuring 17. One detainee remembered: 'There was shooting from the outside. There was shooting from the roofs at our building. We then went into our room and waited. In the cell next to us we heard shooting. There were people shot. There was one person injured and another one killed." A separate report into the prison where Bella May would likely serve her sentence revealed the 'humiliating' way female inmates are treated. The 2015 report from a monitoring group with the Georgian Public Ombudsman described how intake prisoners are "inspected naked and are requested to squat", something inmates "consider degrading treatment". The report adds: "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." At the time of the report, the prison was home to just under 300 female inmates "of legal age", 52 of whom were accused and around 220 convicted. Three of them were sentenced to life imprisonment. Prisoners complained of "hygiene and sanitation problems", with members of the monitoring group finding standards were "violated significantly". The group also found that showers at the facility were "separated by rusting metal walls and without ventilation" and that some had windows without any glass panes.
Daily Mirror
15-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
'I was in prison like one awaiting missing Brit - they tore off my fingernails'
Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, is facing up to 20 years in jail in Georgia after she was allegedly caught with 30lbs of cannabis in her luggage A British teenager accused of attempting to smuggle 30lbs of cannabis through an airport may face a lifetime behind bars in a notorious Eastern European prison, where inmates have reported horrifying and "degrading" conditions. Georgian authorities have confirmed that Bella May Culley, an 18-year-old from Billingham, County Durham, was arrested at Tbilisi Airport after allegedly attempting to smuggle 30 pounds of cannabis into the country. At the time of her arrest, Culley was reportedly the subject of an international search, with her parents having reported her missing during a holiday in Thailand - some 4,000 miles away. Footage aired by Georgian broadcasters appears to show Culley in handcuffs being escorted into the Central Criminal Police Department in Tbilisi. She now faces a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years - or even life - if convicted under Georgian drug trafficking laws. According to a statement from Georgia's Interior Ministry, the charges against her carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Culley has been remanded in custody while awaiting trial, after a judge denied her bail, citing her as a potential flight risk. If found guilty, she is expected to serve her sentence at Tbilisi Prison No. 5, Georgia's only women's correctional facility. The prison has drawn criticism in the past, with former inmates describing conditions there as 'degrading'. A 2006 report from Human Rights Watch found that both pre-trial detainees and convicted prisoners at Tbilisi Prison No. 5 "receive inadequate food or nutrition and often get substandard or no medical care." "In these conditions they are at real risk of acquiring tuberculosis or other diseases," it said. "Most detainees also lack access to daily exercise and, in many cases, cannot leave their overcrowded cells at all for weeks or months at a time. "In one facility visited by Human Rights Watch, detainees had not been allowed to exercise for over five months. Most detainees do not have regular access to showers and no access to work, education, or any other meaningful activity." They added: "Conditions of detention and the treatment experienced by detainees violate Georgia's own Law on Imprisonment, as well as international standards. There is a widespread and consistent gap between what is provided for in law and what is implemented in practice." Georgia has a history of harsh and often brutal treatment of prisoners, with reports of severe conditions in its correctional facilities. The country has faced widespread criticism for its prison system, which has been marked by overcrowding, poor living conditions, and instances of physical abuse. One anonymous testifier said of her time in a Georgian prison to a human rights committee in the country's parliament: "[They] were beating me. They were insulting me... During torture they drowned [me] in [a] bucket full of water and threatened [me] with rape." Another said: "They tore off my fingernails, damaged [my] skull, broke my leg bones, ribs, nose and teeth. "I am 43 years old, but look like an old man. I often fall down while I am walking." The problem was so widespread in the early 2000s that Manfred Nowak, the UN's then-Special Rapporteur, said in 2005: "There is always the threat of violence in prison in a closed space... torture and prisoner abuse by prison staff was considered to be normal and even encouraged." The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CPT) used more pointed language, calling conditions "degrading" and "inhuman", and going as far as to say they were "an affront to a civilised society" in its own report submitted the same year.
