British Bella May Culley 18, missing from Thailand, arrested in Georgia, May 2025

[Seni]

I think weed is only decriminalised in Thailand for medicinal or recreational purposes as in several other countries where you can carry a few grams. Hashish is more concentrated and am not sure whether its production or sale even in small quantitied is legal?


Cannot link on my phone but if you Google cannabis Thailand there is a UK govt report on how they have managed to reduce cannabis trafficking by 90% thro joint collaboration.

Also Bella may have flown to Georgia via a smaller Thai airport?

 

[Seni]

Hmmm...

For "love" of money I guess.

"There's no Cure for Love" some say.

Oh wait,
Georgian prison may provide one

JMO

Oh dear!

Best family keep quiet.

Think it was BBC that reported that British Embassy had instructed family not to speak with the press.

 

[Seni]

According to her mother, Bella flew out of the UK "after Easter". Easter Monday was 21st April.

Bella claims to be pregnant less than a month later.

What must her secret lover in the Philippines, Thailand or Georgia be making of that?

Whatever, do hope the pregnancy is just another lie

 

[Herat]

According to her mother, Bella flew out of the UK "after Easter". Easter Monday was 21st April.

Bella claims to be pregnant less than a month later.

What must her secret lover in the Philippines, Thailand or Georgia be making of that?

Whatever, do hope the pregnancy is just another lie

It would be best for everyone if it was a false alarm.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Warning signs in Bella's posts that showed dream trip was turning dark

It was the teenager's sudden silence online that alerted her family back home to the fact that something was very wrong in paradise.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Nothing new here as such but it’s actually a well written summary considering it’s the DM

 

[Skigh]

Warning signs in Bella's posts that showed dream trip was turning dark

It was the teenager's sudden silence online that alerted her family back home to the fact that something was very wrong in paradise.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Nothing new here as such but it’s actually a well written summary considering it’s the DM

I agree it is a good summary Her family must have known that Bella was living a life of luxury , did they never question where the money came from ?



That her entire future may be in part decided by 'evidence' she herself shared on social media should, at the very least, serve as a warning to other youngsters to be mindful about what they put out there.

She's certainly already facing trial by social media if the myriad online posts about her case are anything to go by.

Hardly surprisingly, questions have been asked about how a teenager who lives with her mum and brother in a council house can afford the lifestyle that was laid out in those swaggering social media posts, involving luxury hotels, exotic locations and, in one instance, Bella nonchalantly smoking a joint in the back of a car.

And, as more details emerge of Bella's life, the questions keep coming. It was revealed this week that although her family believe she wanted to be a nurse, Bella had, in the course of the last year, been installed as the director of two mystery companies, one with links to China. It may well be some time before the full truth emerges.

 

[Dotta]

"Bella May Culley 'trapped in isolation' ​

with grim prison fate ​

resting on three things.​

According to
James Pipe, a legal expert at Felons Assistance:

'Ultimately, what's in store for her hinges on three key factors:
- the progress of the foreign trial,
- diplomatic pressure from the UK government,
- and any formal legal agreements between the two countries.

Until then,
she’s likely to remain detained under that country’s rules, in their system,
and that could mean facing a very different standard of justice
and care than we’re used to here in Britain'.

And according to James,
her family may struggle to see her due to strict rules.
'In terms of family access,
it often comes down to the discretion of the local authorities and the prison’s internal policy.

Even when a family member travels across the world,
visitation can be denied
if proper documentation, legal clearance, or diplomatic approval
hasn’t been secured in advance'.

James warns
that conditions in these prisons can cause foreign nationals to become isolated
due to 'language barriers', adding:

'This can have a serious impact on their mental health
and ability to build a legal defence'."


And paraphrasing:

It's unlikely she could be extradited back to the UK to serve her sentence there
as it depends on prisoner transfer agreement between the countries.

Such transfers don't happen frequently, are slow, and depend on political will.
Also,
the original sentence must be equal or accepted by the UK court system.

(This answers my earlier suggestion that the accused might be transferred to the UK if convicted.)

More in the link

'Drug smuggling Brit trapped in isolation' with fate resting on three factors

Bella May Culley, the 18-year-old Brit arrested overseas for alleged drug smuggling, is now believed to be facing "extreme" conditions as she remains detained in an undisclosed foreign prison

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[x44]

..and here is the latest revelation about her and all those companies she was a director of.
It was all to do with some sort of scam to get around Amazon's ban on Chinese trading in the UK.
She "sells" her personal ID - typically all her passport details to a scammer.
This is one reason why I guess ID verification is moving to personal videos as part of ID verification as done by companies such as Onfido on behalf of financial groups now that static ID such as passports, driving licences etc are being "sold" and then used with without the original owner ever being involved.
So she can add fraud charges now to the ever increasing list......
See

Drug arrest girl 'in China scam to foil Amazon ban'

Culley, 18, is said to have received £550 in return for her passport information, which was then used to open a business account on the digital marketplace.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[MelmothTheLost]

And another one's been caught.

Another teen young British 'drugs mule' is caught: Ex-Tui air stewardess, 21, faces decades in Sri Lanka hellhole after being caught with '£1.15m of cannabis in her luggage' from Thailand​

A British former TUI cabin crew member has been arrested in a Sri Lankan airport after £1.15 million of cannabis was allegedly found in her luggage.

Charlotte May Lee, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, was detained at the main airport in the country's capital Colombo on Monday after arriving from a flight from Bangkok.

According to sources, authorities seized 46kg of kush - a strain of cannabis - as Miss Lee arrived from Thailand on a SriLankan Airlines flight.

Officials from the Customs Narcotics Control Unit in the airport said it is the largest amount of Kush ever to be detected since the international hub opened.

Ex-air stewardess, 21, arrested over '£1.15m of cannabis in luggage'

British ex-TUI cabin crew member Charlotte May Lee, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, has been arrested in a Sri Lankan airport after £1.15m of cannabis was allegedly found in her luggage.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Sri Lanka retains the death penalty for drug smuggling, though no executions have been carried out in decades.

 

[Skigh]

Drug arrest girl 'in China scam to foil Amazon ban'

Culley, 18, is said to have received £550 in return for her passport information, which was then used to open a business account on the digital marketplace.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Drug mule suspect Bella Culley was paid to pose as a company director so Chinese retailers could bypass an Amazon ban on trading in the UK, it was claimed last night.

Culley, 18, is said to have received £550 in return for her passport information, which was then used to open a business account on the digital marketplace.

She is listed at Companies House as a director of Lujamen Ltd, a firm linked to Jiamin Lu, a 30-year-old businessman based in Guangdong, China, who sells second-hand electrical items online.




Lujamen Ltd was incorporated last September and Culley listed as a director the same month. It has a page on Amazon selling second-hand electrical goods.

Another who signed up after seeing the £550 advert was stunned when The Mail on Sunday told them they were linked to Culley at Companies House.

They said: ‘We did this Amazon thing. There were a few people going round saying, “We’ll give you 550 quid”. You open an Amazon business account and someone in China buys your account.

‘There were a couple of people in Darlington behind it. You were just giving your passport details so they can open an account. They sell it on to someone in China and once it’s moved into their name, that’s meant to be the end of it.

‘It’s because Jeff Bezos fell out with China and closed all their Amazon selling accounts, so they can’t open them themselves but can acquire them. It’s £550 cash-in-hand, everyone’s laughing.’

 

[Skigh]

I really cannot believe that Culley had the apparent intelligence to apply to be a nurse ,yet was happy to sell her passport details to someone to open an account in her name.

 

[musicaljoke]

A note about this case posted by the Georgia Ministry of Internal Affairs...


As a result of joint operational measures and investigative actions, officers of the Main Division for Combating Illicit Drug Circulation of the Central Criminal Police Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Customs Department of the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance have arrested a British citizen on charges of drug trafficking.

B.K., born in 2006, is charged with illegally purchasing and storing a particularly large amount of narcotics, illegally purchasing and storing the narcotic drug marijuana, and illegally importing it into Georgia.

The committed crime envisions up to 20 years or life imprisonment.

Law enforcement officers, as a result of defendant's luggage inspection at Tbilisi International Airport, seized a particularly large amount of the narcotic drug "marijuana", up to 12 kilograms and 2.068 kg of the narcotic drug "hashish" as evidence in his travel bag.

The investigation is in progress under Article 262, Part IV, Subparagraph "a", Article 260, Part III, Subparagraph "a", and Article 273, Part VI, of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

Police arrested a foreign citizen on charges of illegally importing a particularly large amount of narcotics into Georgia

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia,

police.ge

 

[musicaljoke]

More details about the "pregnancy".

British teenager faces long jail wait before Georgia trial

From the Georgia Today:

During court proceedings, Culley claimed to be pregnant, stating she is expecting a child with a man she met in the Philippines, whom she described as her “love.” This man is suspected to have connections to a drug trafficking gang.

 

[Skigh]

Bella Culley's father says he will be in Georgia for as long it takes

Niel Culley, 49, has still not been able to visit the 18-year-old despite jetting out to the Black Sea nation as soon as news broke of her arrest last Tuesday night.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The father of drug arrest teenager Bella Culley has vowed to stay in Georgia for 'as long as it takes' - as organised crime experts fear British backpackers are being targeted by the Thai cartel.

Niel Culley, 49, has still not been able to visit the 18-year-old despite jetting out to the Black Sea nation as soon as news broke of her arrest last Tuesday night.

He is facing every parent's worst nightmare as he battles to get information on how Bella allegedly came to be in possession of 14kg of cannabis and hash.


Former Georgian police general Jemal Janashia, one of the country’s foremost drug crime experts, told the Mail: 'The fact that two young British women have taken off with large quantities of drugs from the same airport will interest investigators.

'They will be concerned about the possibility of a link and that Thai gangs may be attempting to recruit vulnerable British travellers.'

Both girls departed from the Thai capital during the Royal Ploughing Ceremony weekend. It is one of the busiest festivals of the year when airports are overloaded with tourists - a prime opportunity for gangs to try to push through mules.

The two arrests also follow a huge crackdown on smugglers sending cannabis to the UK by post.

A joint operation by both countries has seen a 90 per cent in reduction in the drug being mailed to Britain since last year.

It suggests Thai gangs may now be reverting to using drug mules to ship their products instead - and targeting British backpackers

 

[Herat]

I really cannot believe that Culley had the apparent intelligence to apply to be a nurse ,yet was happy to sell her passport details to someone to open an account in her name.

There are different education and job levels that the term "nurse" could be used for.

I think BC would be on the nurse's aide-caregiver lower level and certainly not in line to be a registered ICU nurse.

 

[Bigditch]

I wonder if she went intentionally missing after getting in too deep

More likely on the run.

 

[Herat]

Bella Culley's father says he will be in Georgia for as long it takes

Niel Culley, 49, has still not been able to visit the 18-year-old despite jetting out to the Black Sea nation as soon as news broke of her arrest last Tuesday night.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The father of drug arrest teenager Bella Culley has vowed to stay in Georgia for 'as long as it takes' - as organised crime experts fear British backpackers are being targeted by the Thai cartel.

Niel Culley, 49, has still not been able to visit the 18-year-old despite jetting out to the Black Sea nation as soon as news broke of her arrest last Tuesday night.

He is facing every parent's worst nightmare as he battles to get information on how Bella allegedly came to be in possession of 14kg of cannabis and hash.


Former Georgian police general Jemal Janashia, one of the country’s foremost drug crime experts, told the Mail: 'The fact that two young British women have taken off with large quantities of drugs from the same airport will interest investigators.

'They will be concerned about the possibility of a link and that Thai gangs may be attempting to recruit vulnerable British travellers.'

Both girls departed from the Thai capital during the Royal Ploughing Ceremony weekend. It is one of the busiest festivals of the year when airports are overloaded with tourists - a prime opportunity for gangs to try to push through mules.

The two arrests also follow a huge crackdown on smugglers sending cannabis to the UK by post.

A joint operation by both countries has seen a 90 per cent in reduction in the drug being mailed to Britain since last year.

It suggests Thai gangs may now be reverting to using drug mules to ship their products instead - and targeting British backpackers

Oh, insightful comment by the former Georgian Police General.

I didn't catch that two young British women had departed Bangkok at very similar times, BC to Tiblis, Georgia, the other woman to Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 

[Skigh]

Oh, insightful comment by the former Georgian Police General.

I didn't catch that two young British women had departed Bangkok at very similar times, BC to Tiblis, Georgia, the other woman to Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Could just be a coincidence . Though both of them seemed to be carrying large amounts the weight alone could raise suspicions.
Both could have been stooges so that more valuable drugs could be smuggled .
I think the parents of these girls will be doing everything they can to excuse their involvement and paint them as victims.
These girls were not innocent backpackers.

 

[Herat]

This is the photo of the £ 1.5 million stash of marijuana and products that was discovered in the two large suitcases of CML in Colombo, Sri Lanka

46 kg , 101 pounds of marijuana

I wonder how she even got those on the plane without an overweight baggage charge. I doubt they would need sniffer dogs to detect that. The suitcases must have reeked of it.

 

[Skigh]

This is the photo of the £ 1.5 million stash of marijuana and products that was discovered in the two large suitcases of CML in Colombo, Sri Lanka

46 kg , 101 pounds of marijuana

I wonder how she even got those on the plane without an overweight baggage charge. I doubt they would need sniffer dogs to detect that. The suitcases must have reeked of it.

View attachment 586910

View attachment 586911

I hope there were no animals travelling in the hold !!