Brit facing decades 'rotting behind bars' after 'trying to smuggle £1.2million worth of drugs' speaks out from prison
A woman from Surrey who faces the possibility of 'rotting behind bars' for allegedly smuggling £1.2million worth of drugs has spoken out from prison.
Charlotte May Lee, a former flight attendant, was arrested after stepping off a SriLankan Airlines flight from Thailand with a reported two suitcases stuffed with 46kg of 'kush', a mix of cannabis, fentanyl, tramadol and formaldehyde, The Guardian reports.
Dozens of vacuum packs containing the drugs were said to have been found in the 21-year-old's luggage by airport security on 12 May.
It comes after the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Sunday (18 May) that they 'are supporting a British woman who has been arrested in Sri Lanka and are in contact with her family and the local authorities'.
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If convicted, she could face between 20-25 years in prison where, a family member has claimed, she is currently 'rotting'.
While she awaits her fate, Lee is being held in Negombo Prison, according to the Daily Mail, who have interviewed her from behind bars.
The Chipstead woman insisted that she 'had never seen' the drugs before and 'didn't expect it all when they pulled me over at the airport'.
"I thought it was going to be filled with all my stuff," she said to the outlet. "I had been in Bangkok the night before and had already packed my clothes because my flight was really early.
"So I left my bags in the hotel room and headed for the night out. As they were already packed I didn't check them again in the morning.
"They must have planted it then."
Lee went on to claim that she 'knows who did it'.
The ex cabin crew worker told the outlet that she was working on a 'booze cruise' in Thailand when her 30-day visa was about to run out.
She then decided to fly to Sri Lanka for the first time while her Thai visa was being renewed.
"I thought while I was waiting for the visa that I'd come to Sri Lanka," Lee said.
"They [the people she believed planted the drugs] were supposed to meet me here. But now I'm here - stuck in this jail."
Lee said the prison conditions are 'awful' and that she hasn't 'eaten in two days because the food is just too spicy'.
"There are no beds, no blankets. And where you sleep is like a long corridor with lots of other women," she said.
"I am sleeping on a concrete floor - literally. All I have is my jumper as a pillow. There is a ceiling fan but it doesn't really work and there's a TV but that also barely works.
"I only have this one pair of clothes, nothing else to change into and I'm not being allowed my medication for ADHD."
On what could happen next, a legal source told the outlet that Lee will 'either have to pay a fine or she will be sent to Welikada Prison in Colombo'.
Topics: Drugs, UK News, World News
Anish Vij