Latest news with #syntheticcannabis
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Teesside schools warning over vapes laced with Spice
Parents are being warned after a number of children were taken to hospital using vapes laced with the so-called zombie drug students from Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough were admitted to James Cook University Hospital earlier this month, Cleveland Police tests at a specialist laboratory revealed the presence of the synthetic cannabis substitute, which can have severe debilitating schools in Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland are issuing letters to warn people not to use vapes which are sold via Snapchat and other social media apps. It also urged people to treat any vape not purchased from a shop as suspicious and to report it health teams from both Middlesbrough Council and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are working with schools on providing advice, while teaching staff are being trained how to respond to children who were taken to hospital "informed an adult as soon as they felt unwell", police also issued a reminder that the legal age to purchase and use a vape is 18. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Malay Mail
24-05-2025
- Malay Mail
British ex-cabin crew, Indian man, and Thai national arrested in Sri Lanka's biggest airport drug bust; 60kg of synthetic cannabis seized
COLOMBO, May 24 — Sri Lankan authorities have seized nearly 60 kilogrammes of potent synthetic cannabis that foreigners tried to smuggle in this month in three separate cases, a customs official said Saturday. The South Asian island has long been considered a transit point for international drug smugglers, and all three suspects — from Britain, India and Thailand — could face life imprisonment if convicted. The 21-year-old British woman was arrested on May 12, with customs officers saying she was stopped with 46 kilogrammes (101 pounds) of kush — a synthetic drug containing powerful opioids — packed in two suitcases. 'This could be the biggest drug bust at the Colombo airport in recent times,' said Customs Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda. British media reports have identified the woman as Charlotte May Lee, a former cabin crew member from London, who had flown to Sri Lanka from Thailand. She is being held in detention at a prison near Colombo airport. The BBC reported that she denied knowledge of drugs in her luggage, and claimed they were planted at her hotel in Bangkok. On May 16, a 33-year-old Indian man was arrested at the northern seaport of Kankesanthurai. Arukgoda said that he had been carrying four kilogrammes of kush. He too has been handed over to the anti-narcotics police for further investigations. On May 18, a 21-year-old Thai man was stopped at Colombo airport, who is accused of attempting to smuggle in nearly eight kilogrammes of kush. Sri Lankan authorities have previously seized large quantities of heroin off its shores, saying it suggested the island is being used as a transit hub for narcotics being reshipped onward. In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 111 kilogrammes of heroin. The men were among 17 arrested in Sri Lankan waters in April 2016 while transporting narcotics aboard an Iranian trawler. In 2023, nine Iranians received life sentences in a separate drug smuggling case. — AFP
CNA
24-05-2025
- CNA
Sri Lanka foils synthetic cannabis smuggling attempts
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities have seized nearly 60kg of potent synthetic cannabis that foreigners tried to smuggle in this month in three separate cases, a customs official said on Saturday (May 24). The South Asian island has long been considered a transit point for international drug smugglers, and all three suspects - from Britain, India and Thailand - could face life imprisonment if convicted. The 21-year-old British woman was arrested on May 12, with customs officers saying she was stopped with 46kg of kush - a synthetic drug containing powerful opioids - packed in two suitcases. "This could be the biggest drug bust at the Colombo airport in recent times," said Customs Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda. British media reports have identified the woman as Charlotte May Lee, a former cabin crew member from London, who had flown to Sri Lanka from Thailand. She is being held in detention at a prison near Colombo airport. The BBC reported that she denied knowledge of drugs in her luggage, and claimed they were planted at her hotel in Bangkok. On May 16, a 33-year-old Indian man was arrested at the northern seaport of Kankesanthurai. Arukgoda said that he had been carrying 4kg of kush. He too has been handed over to the anti-narcotics police for further investigations. On May 18, a 21-year-old Thai man was stopped at Colombo airport, who is accused of attempting to smuggle in nearly 8kg of kush. Sri Lankan authorities have previously seized large quantities of heroin off its shores, saying it suggested the island is being used as a transit hub for narcotics being reshipped onward. In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 111kg of heroin. The men were among 17 arrested in Sri Lankan waters in April 2016 while transporting narcotics aboard an Iranian trawler.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- The Guardian
Young British woman held on drug charges in Sri Lanka could be linked to Culley case
Within a day of Bella May Culley being arrested at a Georgian airport for allegedly trying to smuggle 14kg of cannabis, the same fate met another Briton 3,000 miles away. As Charlotte May Lee stepped off her flight at Bandaranaike International airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka last Monday, the 21-year-old former cabin attendant was arrested for an alleged attempt to bring in £1.2m worth of a synthetic cannabis strain known as kush in her two suitcases. Both young women had flown alone from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. A potential link between the two cases looks set to form part of the investigations being carried out by the Georgian and Sri Lankan authorities. The charges facing the women, as suspected mules for organised crime gangs, could hardly be any more serious. If found guilty, Lee, from south London, could face a 25-year sentence, while anything from 20 years in jail to life imprisonment would be on the cards for 18-year-old Culley, from County Durham, according to prosecutors. It is, however, the context that will perhaps be most alarming for any parent whose children may be talking of finding adventure in south-east Asia. Thailand was the first country in Asia to legalise the use and purchase of cannabis leaves in February 2021 and the whole plant in June 2022. The Thai authorities were trying to alleviate the overcrowding in their prison system. The evidence suggests that the result has been an opening of the floodgates for the international drug smugglers, who regard naive young travellers as easy prey. Last summer, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) issued a warning of hefty prison sentences for those coming with cannabis from Thailand, the US and Canada, where the laws on possession have been softened to various degrees in recent years. The reason for alarm was what the NCA described as a 'dramatic' increase in the amount of cannabis being detected and seized at UK airports. Almost 27 tonnes was discovered in 2024 compared to just five tonnes in the previous year. That was up from two tonnes in 2022. Of the 750 smugglers arrested at airports in 2024, the NCA said that 460 had arrived from Thailand. Those being picked up were often young people lured into a false sense that a softening in the laws of their country of departure could be taken as a signal. 'I think it goes on a lot more than people think', said Darrell Jones, who became the first full-time drug expert witness officer within the Metropolitan police in 2016. 'What with legislation coming in certain countries around the world and society in general being desensitised to a certain extent by cannabis use, and with the ability for people to travel so easily, with a focus on easy money. 'Those sorts of groups of people get involved in this sort of consumption of cannabis legally in those countries and before they know it, they're talking to some people who are offering them probably a significant amount of cash. And they think it's a great idea at the time, and especially if they're running out of money.' In the case of Lee, it is known that she had flown out to Thailand in April to celebrate her 21st birthday courtesy of her older sister who was meeting her from Australia, where she lives. She had previously enjoyed a summer contract as a cabin attendant for Tui but she had been training as a beauty therapist specialising in eyelashes. Lee had the travel bug – her social media profiles were full of photographs of white sandy beaches and parties abroad. But money was tight. Photographs published by the Sri Lanka customs narcotics control unit in Colombo suggest that the drugs allegedly in Lee's luggage were in large vacuum packed bags, indicating a high level of professionalism. The drugs found in the luggage of Culley, who has claimed in her only court appearance in Tbilisi that she is pregnant, were also allegedly discovered in hermetically sealed packages. Her family said she had initially gone abroad at Easter with a friend on a backpacking adventure after finishing an access course at Middlesbrough college. She wanted to be a nurse. Her grandfather, William Culley, said that her first port of call had been the Philippines to 'see somebody, a lad there, who she used to go out with a couple of years ago, who was working out there'. She had then gone on to Bangkok on 3 May, according to her mother, Lyanne Culley, but had not called last Saturday as arranged, causing alarm. Culley's social media profiles suggested that a boyfriend was in tow. She was photographed riding on the back of motorcycles and lounging on sunny beaches in the company of a male figure who was never clearly pictured or named. One TikTok was captioned: 'Don't care if we on the run baby as long as I'm next to u.' Another video showing her relaxing, had the caption: 'Blonde or brunette? Erm, how about we get up to criminal activities side by side like Bonnie n Clyde making heavy figures and fcking on balconies all over the world.' Culley is now reportedly being held in Tbilisi prison No 5, Georgia's only female prison. 'I really didn't want her to go to Thailand,' her mother was reported as saying. 'I begged her to come home. I don't trust some of the boys over there. But she wanted to meet up with some friends she made over there on a previous trip. I don't know who any of them are.' Giorgi Lekishvili, a former prosecutor who is now a defence lawyer at said that there would be a preliminary hearing by 1 July but that Culley faced nine months in jail before the case even got to trial. Culley has been utterly shaken by events, her lawyer has said, and is yet to see her father, Niel Culley, 49, who has travelled from his home in Vietnam to be with her. 'When I explained to her that what she was accused of was an especially severe crime then she was concerned and visibly shaken', said Ia Todua, a defence lawyer provided to Culley by the Georgian authorities. '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.'
