The number of British citizens detained abroad over alleged drug smuggling has surged over the past few months, with one charity sounding the alarm over growing numbers of women affected.
Bella May Culley, Cameron Bradford and Charlotte May Lee have all made headlines for being locked up overseas. All are young women, all were arrested over alleged narcotics smuggling, and all recently travelled to Thailand.
It’s a pattern which has come to the attention of Prisoners Abroad – a charity assisting Britons who are arrested and detained overseas.
The charity said almost half of its new cases over the past year have involved arrests for drugs offences. Young Brits and British women make up the majority of these, involved in 62% and 65% respectively in 2024.
But just how many people from the UK are behind bars abroad for similar reasons – and what could happen to them?
What the data shows
Hundreds of British citizens are currently detained across the world, accused of narcotics smuggling offences.
Prisoners Abroad has told ITV News it is currently supporting 431 people around the globe who are facing drugs charges.
This includes 170 people in Europe, 72 behind bars in Asia, and 71 in jails in the Middle East.
According to Prisoners Abroad, the country with the most locked-up British citizens is the United Arab Emirates, where the charity is supporting some 51 inmates facing drugs charges.
There are fears social media platforms are being used to recruit young people into smuggling.
The UAE is followed by Spain and Australia, with 34 and 31 Brits behind bars respectively. In Thailand, there are 22 who have been detained over drugs charges, according to Prisoners Abroad’s figures shared with ITV News.
Cases of British people being arrested and imprisoned abroad peaked in the year 2014 to 2015, Prisoners Abroad have said, with cases declining in subsequent years.
Instances hit a low during the pandemic, but the charity has reported a steady increase since, with total numbers of new cases of British people being detained over drugs charges increasing year-on-year since 2020.
Last year, this figure reached 243 new cases – up from 61 in the year 2020-2021.
“While the influx of recent high-profile cases can make this seem like a newly emerging issue, it’s actually a pattern that’s been materialising for several years,” the charity told ITV News.
“If numbers continue as they are, it looks likely that we will see the highest number of drugs arrests for the first time since 2014-15, and the highest number of total new arrests since 2015-16.”
A timeline of arrests
Prisoners Abroad has started working with 65 new cases of Britons held for alleged drug offences abroad since April 2025 alone.
Since the beginning of the year, a spate of similar incidents have hit the headlines, some taking place within days of each other.
January 21: Thomas Parker arrested in Bali
Thomas Parker, a 32-year-old electrician from Cumbria, was detained earlier this year after allegedly picking up a package from a motorbike driver in Bali, Indonesia.
Police accused him of acting suspiciously, before dropping it in a panic. A lab test later revealed it contained around a kilogram of MDMA.
He dodged the death penalty after investigators determined the package wasn’t directly linked to him, and was sentenced to ten months imprisonment on May 27.
February 1: Three Brits arrested in Bali
Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 28, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 29, were arrested in Indonesia, after authorities accused them of smuggling cocaine in sachets of Angel Delight pudding mixture in their suitcases.
Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, was arrested two days later, after a sting operation set up by police in which the other two suspects handed the drug to him.
April 22: Cameron Bradford arrested in Munich
Cameron Bradford, 21, was stopped and detained by authorities at Munich Airport on her way back from Thailand.
She remains in custody in Germany after allegedly smuggling cannabis.
May 5: Two Brits arrested in Valencia
Spain’s Guardia Civil arrested two British citizens who arrived from France after travelling to Thailand.
According to Spanish media, police found 33 kilograms of cannabis in their luggage after stopping the pair, who were “behaving suspiciously” in the airport.
May 11: Charlotte May Lee arrested in Sri Lanka, and Bella May Culley arrested in Georgia
Charlotte May Lee, from South London, was detained in Sri Lanka after police allegedly found £1.2 million of synthetic cannabis in the 21-year-old’s suitcase after travelling from Thailand.
Meanwhile, Bella May Culley was arrested in Georgia during a separate incident, after authorities accused her of “illegally purchasing and storing a particularly large amount of narcotics”.
They said up to 12 kilograms of cannabis was found in her luggage at Tbilisi airport.
May 18: Two arrested in Ghana
Two British citizens were arrested on the same day in “two successful operations”, Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission said.
Brown-Frater Chyna Jade, a 23-year-old woman, was stopped en route to Gatwick by officers who claim they found 32 slabs of cannabis in her luggage.
Three people, including 19-year-old British national Owusu Williams Christian, were arrested after travelling from Dubai.
Authorities accused him of narcotics smuggling after finding almost 54 kilograms of cannabis in two suitcases.
May 27: A 79-year-old man arrested in Chile
A British man in his 70s was detained in Chile after travelling to the country from Mexico, police said.
They claim five kilograms of methamphetamine was found in the bottom compartment of a suitcase in his possession.
Why are numbers rising?
Prisoners Abroad has partially linked a “sudden explosion” of drugs-related arrests to a ripple effect from the Thai government’s move to decriminalise cannabis in 2022.
“Some of this increase could be accounted for by the legalisation of cannabis for personal use in Thailand and the subsequent impact in other countries,” it said.
“People leave Thailand with drugs and are later arrested in countries of onwards travel, where these drugs are illegal.”
Following a recent spate of alleged smuggling cases involving tourists, Thailand’s government is set to roll out stricter rules on the sale of cannabis, restricting sales to those with a prescription only.
More than 50 Brits have been detained in Thailand for allegedly attempting to smuggle cannabis since July 2024, according to a joint operation with UK authorities.
On British soil, there has been an “exponential increase” in the cannabis being found in airports, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said
Some 27 tonnes of the drug were seized in total, marking a five-fold increase on 2023.
A spike in arrests saw 460 passengers detained after travelling from Thailand in 2024, with 108 arriving from Canada and a further 63 coming from the US.
Despite many of the recent cases having links to Thailand, Prisoners Abroad told ITV News it may not be the only factor behind the recent explosion of drugs-related arrests.
“The quantities and frequency of these new cases suggest something wider at play,” the charity said.
Penalties and punishments
For those found guilty of narcotics smuggling, sentences vary across the world, with some countries, including Thailand, opting for capital punishment.
In the UAE, where Prisoners Abroad believe the majority of Brits detained on drugs charges currently are, those found guilty can face life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Smuggling drugs can also carry the death penalty in Indonesia. One 69-year-old British woman, Lindsay Sandiford, has been on death row in the country for more than a decade after authorities found cocaine in her suitcase at Bali’s airport in 2012.
Indonesia last carried out executions in 2016, where four people – three from Nigeria and one Indonesian citizen – were killed by firing squad over drugs offences.
In Australia, where dozens of other Brits are being held on drugs charges, those convicted can face life in prison.
Judges in Georgia could hand Bella May Culley life in prison if she is found guilty. Charlotte May Lee may face 25 years behind bars if convicted in Sri Lanka.
Charlotte May Lee arriving at the Negombo Magistrate’s Court
What to do if someone you know is affected
The UK Foreign Office has issued several guidelines for British citizens who are arrested abroad, and their families.
- Ask the local authorities, such as the police or prison, to tell the local British embassy or consulate the person has been arrested or put in prison and wants consular assistance.
- Get a local lawyer, or legal aid – but discuss costs before making an agreement.
- Tell the police or prison about any physical or mental health concerns you have, and any medication you take.
- Family or friends can contact the local British embassy, high commission, or consulate, or call the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) on +44 (0)20 7008 5000, from anywhere in the world, 24/7.
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