Britt Jones
An alleged British drug mule has shown a shocking detail on her body in court after claiming she smuggled cannabis under duress.
Bella May Culley’s arrest came as a shock to her family, and many others after she was initially reported missing this year in Thailand.
The 19-year-old had been solo travelling, claiming that she wanted to see the world before vanishing into thin air.
However, her surprise appearance in Georgia came after it was alleged that the teen had smuggled drugs some 4,000 miles from where she was last seen.
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Culley’s family spoke to the media on 13 May to appeal for her whereabouts after her mum became concerned after not hearing from her, believing her phone had been switched off while travelling in Southeast Asia.
But it turned out she had been detained in Eastern Europe on trafficking charges and was facing 20 years to life in prison.
As per the authorities, they had seized marijuana and hashish, stating that she was ‘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.
Culley then appeared in a Tbilisi court for a pre-trial hearing where she said she is pregnant.
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The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs made it clear that this carried up to 20 years in jail, or life imprisonment.
The teen’s lawyer, Ia Touda, explained police want to establish where the ‘up to 12kg’ of marijuana and ‘2kg’ of hashish had come from and whether she was planning to pass it to someone after touching down.
While attending court in the capital of Tbilisi six weeks later, the teen revealed a bombshell claim, stating that she had been tortured into delivering the drugs.
Showing a vivid snake-like scar to the court, she broke down in tears, stating at the hearing: “I didn't want to do this - I was forced under torture.
“I just wanted to travel, I just want to live with my family - I am a loving person, I am studying at the university to become a nurse.
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“All I wanted to do was travel but bad things happened.”
She added: “I don’t do drugs, as you can see in my blood tests, I am clean. I always wanted to make my family proud.”
She went on to claim that the drug bag was taken to the airport for her and put in the plane’s hold when she was boarding her plane to Bangkok in May, while her lawyer claims she attempted to alert security officials of her situation when she landed in the European nation.
Lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia said corrupt Thai police had been part of the ploy and stopped her from trying to raise the alarm before she flew to Georgia.
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Salakaia said she went to a police officer for help, but claimed he was part of the criminal gang forcing her to smuggle the drugs.
Salakaia said: “You’ll see her actual involvement with these charges in her own testimony that is coming shortly - she is innocent.
“Her emotional state exactly confirms that she was forced, I want to ask her to show the court her arm and you can see the burning scar.
“This scar occurred before she was ‘equipped’ with her baggage, that she never even touched.”
He said: “From Thailand to Sharjah, from Sharjah to Thailand, this baggage was carried by a different person. She was only given a passport and told you go there and there.
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“She tried to inform the passport control but was paid no attention. She even has no idea geographically where she is - she thought Tbilisi was a country.
“She was given a photo and was told to keep it and that she would be approached by certain people. This meeting didn’t happen because she was detained.
“Said has never taken drugs and tests carried out by police once she arrived in Georgia proved she was telling the truth.”
While her family were willing to post bail for her so that she can be released from jail until the sentencing, the judge refused and considered the teen a flight risk.
Her lawyer, la Todua said the teen is ‘depressed, confused and scared’ as she faces the possibility of life imprisonment.
Lawyer Ia Todua said: “The detainee says that she is pregnant.
“She needs special examination and attention.
“In addition, in my assessment, she was depressed, confused and scared.”
Todua told RFE/RL: “When the accusation was presented, given that it was a foreign environment for her, it was her first time communicating with law enforcement officers, we agreed on such a position that she should exercise her right to remain silent in order to develop herself.”
The British embassy in Tbilisi told the news outlet: “We are assisting the family of the British woman detained in Georgia and are also in contact with the local authorities.”
She stands accused of carrying 34 hermetically sealed packages containing marijuana and as 20 packages of hashish into the ex-Soviet republic.
For now, she remains in the detention centre.