Pregnant Brit drug mule freed after Thailand trip ends in jail
Teen released after plea deal over arrest at Georgian airport
A British teenager who vanished during a solo trip to Thailand has walked free from a Georgian prison after spending nearly six months behind bars on drug trafficking charges.
Bella Culley, 19 years old and eight months pregnant, was released from custody this week after prosecutors in Georgia revised a plea deal, citing her age and condition. She had been detained since May 10, when she was arrested at Tbilisi International Airport with 12 kilogrammes of marijuana and 2kg of hashish hidden in her luggage.
“I’m happy and relieved,” Culley told reporters as she emerged from court arm-in-arm with her mother, Lyanne Kennedy. Smiling and teary-eyed, the two embraced after the judge confirmed the teen’s release.
“I didn’t expect to be freed today.”
Cameras captured the emotional moment, with Culley joking, “Oh my God, I look awful,” as photographers swarmed the scene.
On a phone call to her father, she said, “I’m not in jail anymore, Dad.”
Culley had previously faced a possible 20-year sentence after admitting to smuggling drugs into Georgia. Her family reportedly paid £137,000 (approximately 6.1 million Thai baht) to reduce her sentence to two years, but a last-minute change to the plea deal saw her freed after five months and 24 days in detention.
Her lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, said: “Given her age and her pregnancy, the court agreed to modify the agreement. We now intend to seek a full presidential pardon.”
The teenager’s ordeal began earlier this year when she left the UK for a solo trip to Southeast Asia. After visiting the Philippines, she arrived in Thailand on May 3, but disappeared shortly after. Her family reported her missing on May 13, believing she was still in Thailand.
In reality, Culley had boarded a flight from Thailand to Georgia via Sharjah in the UAE. She later claimed she was forced to carry the drugs by a trafficking gang that had tortured her using a hot iron, according to the BBC.
Georgian police are now investigating those allegations separately.
She was first held in Rustavi Prison Number Five before being moved to a specialised mother-and-baby unit during her pregnancy.
The teenager’s family is now working to retrieve her passport so she can return to the UK. Her legal team said further details of the plea deal would be made public soon.
Latest Thailand News
Follow The Thaiger on Google News:
