Charlotte May Lee, 21, was stopped at an airport in Sri Lanka after arriving from Thailand, with authorities claiming she was carrying cannabis valued at more than £1m
A former TUI stewardess has been pictured in a mugshot after allegedly trying to smuggle cannabis valued at £1.2million into Sri Lanka.
Charlotte May Lee was arrested after landing in Sri Lanka from Thailand last week, and is accused of having 46kg of the drug in her luggage. The part-time beautician from Chipstead, Surrey is currently being held in a “rotting” cell near the capital of Colombo. She had just landed from Bangkok when she was arrested at Bandaranaike Airport and she has been held in custody since last Monday.
And now her mugshot has been released in which she looks nervously at the camera while dressed in an all-white outfit and shiny sandals. The photograph was taken shortly after she was arrested.
New images also show the drugs in large vacuum-sealed bags which were allegedly put into her luggage and found at the airport. The bags were stacked up and laid out on a table with members of Colombo’s Police Narcotic Unit standing behind.
Currently she is at Negombo Prison, north of the capital, and has said she was completely unaware that there were drugs in her luggage.
She told MailOnline: “I had never seen them 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. I had been in Bangkok the night before and had already packed my clothes because my flight was really early.
“So I left my bags in the hotel room and headed for the night out. As they were already packed I didn’t check them again in the morning. They must have planted it then.” And she added: “I know who did it.”
Yesterday she was told in court that she may not be sentenced for another 12 months and could face 25 years in jail at the brutal Welikada Prison if convicted.
A source told The Sun: “Charlotte is crying a lot. The penny has dropped and she is more aware of her perilous situation. The jail is not fit for a rat to live in. And she has been told to get used to it.”
Ms Lee said she had been working on a “booze cruise” in Thailand. She claimed she took a trip to Sri Lanka nearby as her 30-day visa was about to expire and she could wait there before getting a new one.
“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,” she said.