A British woman has been arrested in Sri Lanka on suspicion of smuggling 46 kilograms of a deadly synthetic drug reportedly made with human bones.
Charlotte May Lee, 21, a former flight attendant from south London, was detained after allegedly carrying suitcases packed full of "kush" through Colombo's Bandaranaike airport earlier this month.
She faces up to 25 years in prison if found guilty of the offence.
The drug, which is most commonly used in west Africa, has been linked to numerous deaths in Sierra Leone.
Charlotte May Lee was detained at Colombo's Bandaranaike airport
Sri Lanka Police
Officials said the discovery was the airport's largest ever seizure of the drug, with a reported street value of £1.5million.
Lee had been in Bangkok and travelled to Sri Lanka because her visa was due to expire.
A senior customs officer in Sri Lanka told the BBC that there had been a large increase in drugs being smuggled into Sri Lanka via Bangkok recently, which they said was a "real nuisance".
The officer added: "Another passenger who had left Bangkok airport, almost at the same time, was arrested in another country. We arrested this lady [Lee] based on profiling."
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Officials said the discovery was the airport's largest ever seizure of the drug, with a reported street value of £1.5million
Sri Lanka Police
Lee has denied the accusations, claiming that the drugs were planted in her luggage without her knowledge.
She told the MailOnline: "I know who did it," but did not elaborate further.
She claimed that she packed her bag the night before her flight and that someone "must have planted it [the drugs] then".
"I had never seen them [the drugs] before. I didn't expect it all when they pulled me over at the airport," she said. "I thought it was going to be filled with all my stuff."
Lee is currently being held in a prison in the city of Negombo, north of the Sri Lankan capital, according to her lawyers.
They said she was facing harsh conditions and sleeping on a concrete floor.
Kush is a form of synthetic cannabis
Sri Lanka Police
A legal representative told the BBC his team was visiting her daily in the prison to ensure her wellbeing and offer support.
Lee is reportedly in contact with her family as she awaits her fate in the Sri Lankan justice system.
Kush is a relatively new synthetic narcotic that is estimated to kill around a dozen people a week in Sierra Leone.
The drug is typically consumed by men between the ages of 18 to 25, causing dangerous effects including falling asleep while walking, collapsing unexpectedly, hitting their heads on hard surfaces and wandering into moving traffic.
Groups of mostly young men with limbs swollen by kush abuse can commonly be seen sitting on street corners in Sierra Leone, a former British colony.
Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leone's President, has described the drug as posing an "existential crisis" and called it a "death trap".
It has been reported that one of kush's many ingredients is human bones, with security being tightened in graveyards in Sierra Leone to prevent people from digging up skeletons.
The situation became so severe that Sierra Leone's President declared a state of emergency over abuse of the substance in 2024.
The drug has created visible social problems in Sierra Leone, with affected users often seen in public spaces suffering from the drug's debilitating effects.
The presence of such a large quantity of this dangerous substance in Sri Lanka has raised concerns about new trafficking routes for the synthetic drug.
It is thought that Lee left Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport days after the departure of another British woman who was recently detained on drug charges in Georgia.
Bella Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, allegedly smuggled 12kg of marijuana and 2kg of hashish into the Caucasus country.
Investigations are currently underway as to where the narcotics, found in her travel bag, came from.
Culley could face up to 20 years in prison or a life sentence if found guilty of the drug smuggling charges.
