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Two Young Britons Face Decades in Prison After Drug Seizures in Georgia and Sri Lanka

One detainee’s pregnancy has raised fresh concerns over the risks of giving birth under harsh foreign conditions as authorities investigate potential links between the two cases.

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Overview

  • Bella May Culley, 18, was arrested at Tbilisi airport on May 11 when Georgian officers found 31lb of cannabis and hashish in her luggage.
  • Charlotte May Lee, 21, a former flight attendant, was detained in Colombo on May 12 with two suitcases containing 46kg of synthetic kush.
  • Culley disclosed her pregnancy in a Tbilisi court, intensifying worries about healthcare access and child welfare in Georgia’s only female penitentiary.
  • Drawing on her own three-year sentence in Peru, Michaella McCollum warned of maggot-infested food, cockroach-infested cells and said most women in such cases are coerced rather than motivated by profit.
  • Investigators are probing possible ties between the cases, noting both women departed Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport and mentioned meeting unidentified men during their travels.