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20th May 2025
12:25pm BST
A former flight attendant is facing up to 25 years in prison after being arrested on drug smuggling charges in Sri Lanka.
Charlotte May Lee was arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, after arriving on a flight from Bangkok.
The 21-year-old, who hails from Chipstead, Surrey, was reportedly found with drugs worth £1.2 million that were reportedly due to go to “high-end local buyers”.
Sri Lankan authorities said they found 46kg of Kush, a high grade strain of cannabis, in her luggage.
Customs Narcotics Control Unit officials said it was the largest haul of drugs they had ever discovered at the airport.
Lee is in custody while Sri Lanka’s Police Narcotics Bureau continues the investigation, with local media reporting that she could face decades in prison.
A family friend told The Sun: “She’s been told if convicted, because of the size of the drugs haul, she’s looking at between 20 and 25 years in jail. British Embassy staff warned her she’s going nowhere soon.”
Lee is reported to be in a single room alongside 20 other women with “hardly room to lie down”.
Another friend said: “We’re frantically worried. She was arrested then seemingly abandoned and is rotting in a jail cell. She’s very scared.”
The former TUI flight attendant left for Thailand three weeks ago, and relatives said she had made comments about meeting a man after going through a break up.
