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Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Why Brits are 'flavour of the month' for drug smuggler gangs: The pensioners and glam influencers recruited as drug mules on promise of fast cash and luxury holidays
British 'drug mules' are the 'flavour of the month' for criminal gangs and are being recruited on the promise of quick cash and the 'perfect package' luxury holiday, experts warned today. Attracted by the white sand beaches and bustling nightlife, party-going Brits are flocking to countries such as Thailand and Indonesia in their droves - but some are never making it home. That's because several Brits, mostly glamorous young women, are being lured into the murky world of drug smuggling which has left them facing lengthy sentences in hell-hole prisons or even the death penalty. But in a case that has bucked the trend, a 79-year-old British pensioner was arrested in Chile last week after a Mexican gang allegedly promised him £3.7million to smuggle a suitcase of crystal meth from Cancun. One leading drugs expert claimed smugglers are seeing Brits as the 'flavour of the month' because UK nationals, particularly young women, are easily incentivised and can slip back into the UK more easily with the goods on a British passport. But with a trend of Brits now being caught, they warned airport security will be paying a closer eye, explaining: 'That's why they are being picked up more, because they are being picked on more. If it's a run on Brits, this could sustain for years.' Another leading drugs expert added: 'They recruit anyone they think looks innocent enough to get through customs, and yet still be dodgy enough to do the deal.' In recent weeks, 18-year-old Bella Culley, from Billingham, County Durham, was arrested in Georgia after allegedly carrying 14kg of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation from Thailand, where she had been holidaying. Then came 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, who is locked up in a Sri Lankan prison after police discovered 46kg of 'Kush' - a synthetic strain of cannabis - in her suitcase when she arrived on a flight from Thailand. A flurry of similar cases have followed including 36-year-old OnlyFans model Clara Wilson, from Nottinghamshire, 21-year-old Cameron Bradford, from Hertfordshire, and 29-year-old Kimberly Hall, from Middlesbrough, who have all been arrested on suspicion of smuggling abroad. Many of these alleged smugglers face decades in prison. But at the most extreme end, three British nationals - Phineas Float, Jonathan Collyer and Lisa Stocker - are facing the death penalty over allegedly smuggling cocaine from the UK to Indonesia. Last week, it then emerged that 79-year-old William 'Billy Boy' Eastment faces dying behind prison bars after he was intercepted at Santiago Airport with £200,000 worth of meth. The bowls-loving pensioner, from Somerset, claims he was unaware the suitcase contained drugs - with his own sister saying 'He is just so gullible'. Dr David Holmes, a leading criminal psychologist, told MailOnline that he may have been approached because pensioners 'are obviously not the first target for airport security'. 'I imagine this is someone who wanted money. But it would be a very worrying trend if your average pensioner from the council estate was starting to [smuggle] on holidays. It would be a nightmare for customs. 'I would imagine there isn't an army of pensioners, but they are a relatively easy target, they are not as go-getting and thrill-seeking. But they are interested in money and if they are hard-pressed, easily scared and pressured, they can be targeted.' He added that customs officers go through 'trends' and 'suspicions', adding: 'If you started to get a few pensioners coming through, I can imagine the look of dread on airport staff. 'They are not the people you want to be pushing into a cell and keeping for hours, complications can get much worse and they have health problems. It's not safe to be wrenching them about like you would with a younger person.' Gary Carroll, an expert witness in drug cases, suggested that drug kingpins could be adapting to the increased coverage of young female smugglers by preying on pensioners instead. 'Pensioners being used is certainly a commonality that we've seen in the past in the drug world. They adapt as we adapt or as law enforcement adapts. 'Law enforcement and the media have publicised young girls being used as mules. But in four, five, six months we'll see a sharp decrease. 'We'll see this falling off the table. And what we'll have brought back onto the table are the use of pensioners and the use of families, and they'll adapt now that more enforcement have cottoned on to this tactic.' British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford has also been incarcerated inside Bali's hellish Kerokoban prison since 2013 after she was sentenced to death for attempting to smuggle £1.6million worth of cocaine into Indonesia's capital from Thailand by stuffing it into the lining of her suitcase. But more recently, there has been a surge in drug seizures involving young women, who experts say share a commonality in being 'vulnerable' and wanting to travel the world. Mr Carroll, who spent 14 years in policing before becoming an expert witness, said: 'I think what we've seen is with the rise in social dominance of social media. 'It's created a gateway for suppliers to target and make connections with young, well-travelled, glamorous ladies and girls that are seeking that ability to travel the world and afford to do so. 'Smuggling drugs or packages where they're not entirely sure of the contents in exchange for free holidays and cash seems quite a lucrative offer.' Mr Carroll, from Claymore Advisory Group, said he has worked on cases where the 'common denominator' is free accommodation, free flights, spending money and some cash to come home with. 'I've even seen business class being thrown in there to sweeten the deal,' he said. 'It's almost the perfect package for those that want to travel, take all the pictures for social media at no expense of their own. He said that in cases he has worked on, it is British nationals being approached within the UK through the introduction of friends. 'It's almost like a multi-level marketing aspect where young girls are recruiting other young girls to become involved on the provision that it's a free holiday, you get some cash,' he said. And while word of mouth may be spreading on how to secure fast cash and luxury holidays, convicted young female smugglers have spoken out to warn against getting lured in. Michaella McCollum, one of the notorious Peru Two who served three years in a hardcore prison near Lima over drug smuggling, sympathises with Bella and Charlotte. 'I couldn't help but feel bad for them,' Michaella told the Mail. '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.' Another, OnlyFans star Levi-April Whalley, who was caught trying to smuggle £160,000 of cannabis into the UK from New York with a pal in 2023 told The Mirror: 'If I had the chance to speak to Bella and Charlotte, I would tell them to tell the truth and be honest.' Experts have told MailOnline how young women are targeted by mules because they are less likely to be stopped by customs - especially with a surge in female travelling. Mr Carroll said: 'I don't want to detract from the ones where they are fully aware of what's going on, and it's just pure naivety and greed, which is certainly a dominant factor in a lot of cases. 'But these young girls are getting approached because - not to stereotype every young social media lad and female - but travelling the world is certainly a common denominator. 'It's pictures in foreign, exotic, lovely areas where the everyman can only dream of visiting, whereas these young ladies happen to be getting holidays there, and it makes people wonder,what kind of lifestyle they can lead. 'They do make for interesting targets for suppliers.' Asked who is targeting them, he added: 'With the people targeting on social media, it's introducing friends of friends. It tends to be UK nationals that are based abroad. 'The person there facilitating the whole transaction and importation, will likely be a British national, someone likes there. It's not the head of a Thai drugs gang targeting UK girls, that's not what I've encountered. 'It tends to be a British person who is orchestrating the events but happens to be in the middle of the drug gang and has the ability to recruit UK females. It's another link in the chain.' Dr Holmes added that the 'recruiting is often done through people they know', adding: 'It's not just the case of some dodgy looking guy coming along a beach and saying "If you do this, you get that". 'Most of it will be your friends saying, "Oh, I've done that, it's no problem." He continued: 'It's people that are gullible enough to do it because they've got to go through it, they've got to actually turn up pass over the drugs and things. 'You wouldn't have completely incompetent drunkards. 'It's people that have a certain kind of gloss, or would appear to be a gloss for getting through customs would be attractive to the dealers and the people that are pushing the mules. 'It's anyone they think looks innocent enough to get through customs, and yet still be dodgy enough to do the deal.' He added: 'It may be that Brits are the flavour of the month - and I would imagine it's quite more likely that Brits are the flavour of the month with airport security.. That's why they are being picked up more, because they are being picked on more. They have limited resources, they can't stop everybody so they target it's a run on Brits, this could sustain for years.' Speaking about whether these mules are aware of the risks, Dr Holmes said: 'They will be given a routine such as what to do with burst bags or what to say when they are caught, i.e nothing. 'That is probably the limit of the instruction that they would be given because to be honest, the dealers don't care that much. You are just somebody who's working for them, and you don't give a s**t because you're likely never to do it again.' Mr Carroll said that it's often implied to the smugglers that the contents are not legal, but it is suggested that it could be something less serious than drugs such as jewellery with unpaid VAT or unethically sourced gold. The challenge for the courts is working out if the smugglers have 'naively' agreed to take packages without knowing there are drugs inside or if they are aware of what they are doing, he said. Dr Holmes said the type of suspect has changed over the years, making it even more challenging for Border Force to detect. 'You would have been looking at very poor people that have got nothing else, who are fairly desperate and easily bribed, or easily blackmailed into doing it,' he said. 'Young Brits, obviously, are more robust in terms of getting through customs - but it may be that they've been doing it for years and only just now are they catching on at customs that it might actually be this lot as well.' As well as the end destination of the drugs reaching the UK, the idea of being 'seen as more above board and less likely to be committing that serious crime', makes British nationals attractive for smuggling, he added. 'You do get some picked upon because they are loners and vulnerable, easily scared, desperate in some way,' Dr Holmes said. 'There might be one or two that want identity if there is nothing in their lives, if they are not achieving anything, and this would give them identity and make them feel special.' Just last night, it emerged another young Brit, Ms Bradford, 21, from Knebworth, in Hertfordshire, was stopped at Munich Airport on April 21 for allegedly smuggling cannabis from Thailand. It is thought Ms Bradford could now face at least four months in a German prison while authorities probe where the drugs came from. In a separate case this week, OnlyFans model Clara Wilson, 36, was allegedly found trying to smuggle around £200,000 of Thai cannabis into Spain. The mother-of-four from Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire, faces four years behind bars and potential fines of over £750,000 if she is found guilty. The European cases are far more lenient than those who are stranded in hell-hole prisons abroad. The trial of three Brits accused of smuggling cocaine or taking part in a drug deal on the island of Bali began on Tuesday, with all facing the death penalty in a nation with some of the world's toughest narcotics laws. Indonesia hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling and has previously executed foreigners, but has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017. Couple Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 38, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 39, were arrested on February 1 after being stopped at Bali's international airport with 17 alleged packages of cocaine that weighed nearly one kilogramme. A lab test result confirmed that 10 sachets of Angel Delight in Collyer's luggage and seven similar sachets in his partner's suitcase contained 995.56g of cocaine, prosecutors claimed. Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the packages, was arrested two days later and is being tried separately. Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, is being held in prison in Georgia on suspicion of smuggling 14kg of cannabis from Thailand. Elsewhere in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Charlotte May Lee, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested after police allegedly discovered 46kg of 'Kush' - a synthetic strain of cannabis - in her suitcase. She is facing up to 25 years locked in a hellhole Sri Lankan jail - but she has insisted she has been set up. Meanwhile it was alleged last month that British beautician Kimberly Hall, 29, tried to trick Immigration and Customs Enforcement into deporting her so she could evade justice after being accused of smuggling $6.2million of cocaine into Chicago. Hall was caught carrying 43kg of cocaine through O'Hare Airport in August 2024 after getting off a flight from Cancun, prosecutors say. She was about to board a connecting flight home to the UK when she was apprehended. She is said to have admitted to investigators that she'd been given the bags during a trip to Mexico and asked to take them back to Manchester in England.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Every parent's worst nightmare: Fears naive young Brits partying in Thailand are being targeted by gangs and duped into becoming drug mules after two women are 'caught smuggling narcotics'
The quickfire arrests of two young British women alleged to have been hauling huge quantities of illegal drugs from Thailand have stoked fears naïve holidaymakers are being targeted by local gangs to work as drug mules. 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 - and, hauntingly, 'that 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.' Mr Janashia, who used to head Georgia's national bureau for combating drug trafficking, said that a police crackdown on postal drug deliveries in Thailand may have pushed 'the cartel' to seek alternative smuggling routes. 'Georgia does look like an attractive middle transit point,' he suggested, close to Europe and visa free for European travellers. Noting that Miss Culley was 18, foreign to Thailand and pregnant, and suggesting she may have been used as a pawn in a complex trafficking operation, he said that 'whoever chose her, they knew what they were doing'. He told the Mirror that he would advise Miss Culley to cooperate with the investigation and 'indicate who were the youths that she was in touch with in Thailand' - and a fixer in Georgia, if there was one. Bella was arrested at Tbilisi Airport on May 11 and found with 12kg of cannabis and 2kg of hashish after getting a £550 Air Arabia flight from Bangkok via Sharjah. But Mr Janashia, who now teaches at the Georgian Technical University, said Miss Culley did not fit the typical profile of an international drug trafficker. It does not appear she has any previous experience in drug trafficking - something investigators will try to understand and explore in the coming weeks. Miss Lee is also a young British traveller who appeared to be visiting Thailand for leisure after reportedly going through a painful break up. The 21-year-old, who had been working on a 'booze cruise' in Thailand before her visa in the country ran out, this week strongly denied any knowledge of the £1.2million stash in her bag She told MailOnline from behind bars in Negombo Prison, where she is currently being held on reprimand: 'I had never seen them before. I didn't expect it at all when they pulled me over in the airport. I thought it was going to be filled with all my stuff.' She decided to go to the country because it was relatively nearby - only a three-hour flight away - and she had never visited there before. 'I thought while I was waiting for the visa that I'd come to Sri Lanka. 'They [the people she believed planted the drugs] were supposed to meet me here. But now I'm here - stuck in this jail.' And she added: 'I know who did it.' Both women are said to have told friends and family they were meeting a man abroad. Both women departed from the Thai capital during the Royal Ploughing Ceremony weekend. It is one of the busiest festivals of the year when airports are overloaded with tourists - a prime opportunity for gangs to try to push through mules. The story is not unique. In recent months, dozens of British nationals have been stopped at borders, accused of trying to bring huge quantities of cannabis into the country. In the space of just two weeks of last year, more than 260kg of cannabis was found in suitcases at UK airports, carried by passengers arriving from Bangkok, SCMP reports. By October 2024, British ports and airports were recording a record surge in drug seizures smuggled in from the country. The trend appears to date back to the decriminalisation of most cannabis in Thailand in 2022. Since then, there has been a correlated hike in shipments to the U.K. The Home Office took note, and a partnership between UK Border Force and Thai customs helped bring down cannabis arrivals by post by 90 per cent in the first three months of this year. Minister for Citizenship and Migration, Seema Malhotra said last month: 'By stopping these drugs at source, we're disrupting organised crime, protecting communities, and freeing Border Force to focus on other priorities.' The fear is that, now, gangs could be looking to circumvent the border crackdown by recruiting naïve young holidaymakers to move drugs across the border for them personally. Some 800 people, including as many as 50 British nationals, were 'intercepted' between October 2024 and March 2025. More than nine tonnes of cannabis have been seized, according to the Home Office. Only last month, authorities in Thailand showed off how they arrested the alleged ringleader of a drug smuggling group operating out of the country. Adel Mohammed, a British national, was accused of running a network of Brits picking up marijuana from farms on Koh Samui island, of White Lotus fame, to be moved on to the capital. Mr Mohammed was arrested on April 12 at an apartment in Bangkok, as police said they had caught nearly a dozen Brits, a Malaysian, a Dutch and a Romanian national who they believe were involved in a complex network. 'They were planning to smuggle cannabis buds out of the country via Samui International Airport,' Major General Natthakorn Prapayont, Deputy Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said at the time. A month prior, Darryl Poole, from Camden, was detained at an airport, alleged to have been part of the same ring. Koh Samui, said to have ideal conditions for growing cannabis, has featured several times in newspaper headlines for the wrong reasons. On March 15, four British tourists were arrested boarding a plane on the island, allegedly found with £1.7mn worth of cannabis. Customs officers said they found eight suitcases between the four men stuffed full of vacuum-sealed bags. Antony Paul Mudd, 62, from London, Billy Daniel Harman, 36, from Newham, Philip Edward Goldstone, 63, from West Ham, and John George Canning, 34, from London were identified by police. A police spokesman said at the time: 'The suspects claimed they were hired by an employer abroad to travel to Thailand and smuggle cannabis out of the country. 'The employer arranged for travel tickets and accommodation for them, and they would receive the cannabis-packed suitcases at their hotels. 'They travelled to Koh Samui through a domestic flight from Bangkok. The alleged smugglers' were flying to Singapore with their final destination being London in England.' The case is exceptional in the suspects all being slightly older. In recent months, it has predominantly been young people - teenagers or those in their early 20s - who have been nabbed at customs with huge quantities of drugs, accused of involvement in smuggling. Police in Croatia saw an irregularity before arresting a 21-year-old roofer with 39 bags of cannabis, also neatly vacuum packed, at customs in Zagreb earlier this year. The man, who was not named, claimed to have no idea how he had ended up with 23kg of marijuana. He was revealed to have travelled from Thailand to the Croatian capital via Istanbul before sniffer dogs sounded the alarm. Often, police in Thailand intervene before the drugs leave the country. On March 4, British tourist Luziela Aaliyah Carvalho, 19, was allegedly caught with 35kg (80lbs) of marijuana while trying to board a plane at the Chiang Mai International Airport in Thailand. She was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong before taking a second flight to London on Cathay Pacific flight CX 251 before officers allegedly detected the contraband in her luggage and arrested her. National Crime Agency Branch Commander Andy Noyes suggested at the time that the arrests of 11 people accused of trying to bring drugs into the UK had been ensnared in a trafficking operation. 'The gangs behind this trafficking don't care about those who get caught – they just want their money,' he said. 'If you try to smuggle drugs into the UK, you will be arrested, and you will spend time in prison.' Experts on drug trafficking - and indeed the family of Miss Culley - believe that she, too, may have been exploited by one of the gangs during a leisure trip to Thailand. Miss Culley is said to have told legal sources that she was in love with an unknown man who now forms a central part of the police investigation. On socials, Miss Culley told the world that she did not want to have a 'boring' life and was 'hungry for success'. Online, she referred to herself as part of 'Bonnie and Clyde' and shared images of herself with wads of bank notes. But family agreed that the idea she had willingly involved herself in a complex foreign drug trafficking scheme was preposterous. 'She's not daft,' her grandfather William Culley, 80, argued. 'She's an intelligent girl. Why has she done it? Has someone dangled money in front of her? 'We are just hoping that someone can do something. She must be terrified. She's got sucked into something, somehow,' he told reporters. 'She's not an international drug trafficker. She was just going on holiday.' Later, he recalled a vague conversation he'd had with his daughter Lyanne Kennedy – Bella's mother – about how she had gone off to Thailand to meet someone called Ross or Russ. He couldn't be certain. These details are expected to be combed through in court as investigators work to unpick how an 18-year-old with her sights on becoming a nurse ended up journeying from the U.K. to Thailand to Georgia, allegedly with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cannabis. Likewise, investigators have been stumped by the arrival of a British 21-year-old former cabin crew member in Sri Lanka, allegedly carrying 46kg of cannabis in her luggage. Charlotte May Lee, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, was detained in Colombo on May 12, a day after Miss Culley was stopped in Georgia. Officials from the Customs Narcotics Control Unit in the airport said they had found with Miss Lee the largest amount of Kush, a quality strain of cannabis, ever to be detected since the international hub opened. Sources close to the investigation said the 'massive consignment' is worth around 460 million Sri Lankan rupees - about £1,150,000. The drugs, which have now been seized, were allegedly found 'tightly packed in luggage' and are believed to have been intended for 'high-end local buyers'. Miss Lee has been remanded to custody while the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) investigates the case and potential legal action, according to local reporters. According to friends, Miss Lee first flew out to Thailand in April to celebrate her 21st birthday with her older sister. She then returned to Coulsdon and told friends she 'loved Thailand and wanted to work out there'. She had said that she had found 'a job on a boat' a few weeks before her arrest, but did not voice plans to return. So it came as a surprise when she started posting photos of herself partying abroad in Thailand, days before her arrest. Upon news of her arrest, friends were equally shocked. 'I couldn't believe it. She's a hard worker and a grafter,' one said. 'We are shocked. I am in total shock. She's a nice girl.' 'There were no red flags or anything,' another said. Again, it is unclear why Miss Lee decided to return to Thailand. Again, it is unknown why the 21-year-old suddenly found herself in Sri Lanka. Mr Janashia suggested that Thai gangs may be explicitly targeting British backpackers, making them carry drugs across borders to get around a crackdown on mail-order shipments organised on the dark web. Older headlines make note of British nationals arrested trying to bring heroin into the country from Thailand. Today, most of the heroin imported into the UK is thought to originate from Afghanistan, often trafficked via the Balkans. But the decriminalisation of cannabis in Thailand appears to have created new opportunity for gangs to harness tourists to smuggle narcotics around the world once more. The policy shift has taken some of the power away from these gangs, and efforts to stop postal orders of drugs has cut off their lifeblood. But a disturbing pattern of young Brits found at airports with huge quantities of drugs suggests a sinister movement still fighting back against threat of extinction.
