British former air stewardess accused of smuggling million-pound 'cannabis stash' into Sri Lanka
18 May 2025, 10:34 | Updated: 18 May 2025, 11:03
Charlotte May Lee, 21, was detained at the airport after being accused of smuggling £1.15 million pounds worth of cannabis into Sri Lanka in her luggage.
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Sources say authorities seized 46kg of Kush - a strain of the illegal drug - which was found in dozens of large vacuum packed bags inside two large suitcases.
The drugs are believed to have been intended for 'high-end local buyers.'
Lee, from Coulsdon, South London, was detained at Bandaranaike International Airport near the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on Monday after arriving on a SriLankan Airlines flight from Bangkok, Thailand.
Officials from the Customs Narcotics Control Unit in the airport said it is the largest amount of Kush ever discovered at the airport.
Pictures released by Sri Lankan police show six officers posing behind vacuum packed bags.
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Lee remains in custody while the case is investigated, according to local reporters in Sri Lanka.
The British Foreign Office said: "We are supporting a British woman who has been arrested in Sri Lanka and are in contact with her family and the local authorities."
Lee's friend said they received what appeared to be a Snapchat video message sent from Sri Lankan custody, where she briefly films herself and reassures them that she is okay.
The friend said Lee had been travelling in Thailand in April for her 21st birthday, and had briefly returned to the UK before leaving again without telling friends.
Lee is said to have mentioned around four weeks ago that she had a "job on a boat" waiting for her in Thailand, but did not mention any immediate plans to return.
The friend commented that it was unusual for Lee not to have mentioned her travel plans.
One woman close to Lee said she was in "total shock" as Lee was a "nice girl."
Another friend said: "There were no red flags or anything."
A video on Lee's Tik Tok account on Monday, the day of her arrest, showed Lee flying over a tropical island on a plane. The location of the video was tagged as Bangkok.
Lee had previously worked as a cabin crew member for TUI Group, a German multinational leisure, travel and tourism company. Friends have said this was a "summer contract." She has since been training to become a lash technician.
Posts on Lee's Instagram account show her wearing a TUI cabin crew uniform as she poses beside a plane.
Lee's detainment comes shortly after the arrest of a British teenager at the airport in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Bella May Culley, 18, allegedly arrived from Thailand carrying 14kg of cannabis in her luggage.
The teenager now faces life in prison in Georgia, the former soviet country, after being accused of buying, possessing, and importing large quantities of the illegal drug.
