Former air stewardess accused of £1.2m drug smuggling pictured behind bars - as she breaks silence
22 May 2025, 14:18
British "drug smuggler" Charlotte May Lee has been pictured in a new police mugshot as she broke her silence from behind bars to say she didn't know £1.2 million of drugs was in her luggage.
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Speaking for the first time since her arrest on May 11, she said the cannabis was planted in her suitcase while she left her bags unattended at a hotel for a night.
Police said Ms Lee was found with 46kg of “kush” in her suitcase after arriving at Bandaranaike Airport in Sri Lanka.
Ms Lee is facing charges of illegal drug possession and importation. She could be facing a sentence of up to 25 years 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."
She was arrested in the airport shortly after landing on a flight from Bangkok.
She is currently being held in the mixed-sex Negombo Prison, after spending a week sleeping on a “bug-infested sofa” at the local force’s Narcotics Bureau.
Ms Lee says she had “no idea” the drugs were in her suitcase.
“I had never seen them before,” she told the MailOnline. “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.”
Working on a booze cruise in Thailand, Ms Lee says her work visa ran out, so she was planning to travel to Sri Lanka to wait out her renewal.
“I’m trying my best to stay positive, because what else can you do?” she said.
“I feel as if I have no human rights here.”
“The shower is not really a shower - it’s just a bucket you pour over yourself, but they don’t give you anything for that. You’re only allowed two or three hours outside in the sun a day, occasionally longer if there are a lot of women in the court that day.”
“I’ve not eaten in two days because the food is just too spicy for me.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson has said: “We are supporting a British woman who has been arrested in Sri Lanka, and are in contact with her family and local authorities.”
