A 21-year-old British woman has been arrested in Sri Lanka after allegedly attempting to smuggle £1.15 million worth of cannabis into the country in her luggage.
Charlotte May Lee, from Coulsdon in South London, was detained on Monday at Bandaranaike International Airport near Colombo after arriving on a SriLankan Airlines flight from Bangkok, Thailand. Authorities say they discovered 46 kilograms of “Kush” – a potent strain of cannabis – hidden in vacuum-sealed bags inside two large suitcases.
Officials from the Sri Lankan Customs Narcotics Control Unit have described the bust as the largest seizure of Kush at the airport to date. Photographs released by Sri Lankan police show six officers standing behind the seized bags, believed to have been intended for “high-end local buyers.”
Lee, a former air stewardess for TUI on a summer contract, was reportedly traveling alone and remains in police custody as the investigation continues. A friend claimed she had recently returned to the UK after celebrating her 21st birthday in Thailand, before heading back abroad without informing anyone of her plans.
“She mentioned a job on a boat in Thailand about four weeks ago but didn’t say anything about coming back,” the friend told reporters. “It’s so out of character – there were no red flags.”
A Snapchat video purportedly sent by Lee from custody in Sri Lanka shows her briefly filming herself and assuring her friends that she is okay.
The British Foreign Office confirmed it is providing support: “We are supporting a British woman who has been arrested in Sri Lanka and are in contact with her family and the local authorities.”
Social media accounts linked to Lee show her wearing a TUI cabin crew uniform and more recently sharing beauty content as she trained to become a lash technician. Her latest TikTok, posted the day of her arrest, shows an aerial view of a tropical island tagged in Bangkok.
Lee’s arrest follows that of another British national, 18-year-old Bella May Culley, who was detained in Georgia after allegedly attempting to smuggle 14 kilograms of cannabis from Thailand. Culley now faces the possibility of life in prison.
