Charlotte May Lee, 21, is being is being held in a ‘rotting’ cell in the capital of Sri Lanka, where she awaits her first court appearance. The Brit has reportedly become ‘very friendly’ with someone in prison
A former flight attendant has struck up an unlikely friendship while in prison after she was accused of trying to smuggle drugs worth £1.2 million, it has been claimed.
Charlotte May Lee, 21, found herself in handcuffs after disembarking a flight at Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka from Thailand last Monday. Allegedly, her two suitcases were crammed with 46kg of a synthetic drug known as kush, a highly addictive mix of a number of drugs, chemicals and even human bones.
The former Tui employee had left Surrey for Thailand two weeks prior, leaving friends with only cryptic hints about meeting a man in the Southeast Asian nation. The 21 year old faces the prospect of spending decades behind bars and is due for her first court appearance tomorrow (21 May).
One friend, who has reportedly spoken to Charlotte since she was detained, revealed an unlikely friendship she has formed while in prison. While expressing her fear of the situation, the pal told to the Sun: “She thinks she’s going away for a long time. She is scared but talks of becoming very friendly with a prison guard.”
READ MORE: Charlotte May Lee fears being locked away for 20 years over £1.2m drugs bust
Another friend shared the bleak outlook: “She’s been told if convicted, because of the size of the drugs haul, she’s looking at between 20 and 25 years in jail. British Embassy staff warned her she’s going nowhere soon.”
Kush, which is 25 times stronger than the opioid fentanyl, is often laced with hazardous chemicals. It emerged in Sierra Leone about four years ago, and there are no concrete statistics on how many lives it has claimed.
The impact of the drug on mental health is devastating, with the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital reporting that admissions linked to kush skyrocketed by nearly 4,000 per cent from 2020 to 2023, totalling 1,865. A staggering 63 per cent of current patients have been hospitalised due to complications related to kush use.
A special task force has been established to tackle the escalating substance abuse crisis. As part of the initiative, new centres will be established, staffed by trained professionals to provide care and support to individuals struggling with addiction.
Charlotte’s situation is worryingly similar to that of 18 year old Brit Bella Culley, who was arrested for allegedly carrying about 12kg of cannabis and about 2kg of hashish into Georgia. Bella’s grandfather last week claimed that she was planning to meet a man she had previously dated during her dream holiday in Southeast Asia.
William Culley, 80, recounted: “She went to 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 said, “I’m going on my own, but I’m meeting Ross out there. Or Russ, I’m not sure what his name is. He was working out there for his father’s company or something – but now I wonder if what she told me was true.”
He added: “Last night they were told they could see her in the morning. They said they’d ring me straight after they had seen her, but I haven’t had a call. They must still be waiting.”