Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Bella Culley
Topics: UK News, Thailand, Travel, World News, Crime
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: UK News, Thailand, Travel, World News, Crime
A British teenager appeared in court after going missing in Thailand and turning up in Georgia, only to be arrested on suspicion of drug offences.
Earlier this week, Bella May Culley disappeared while backpacking in Thailand - with her family launching an appeal on Tuesday (May 13).
She'd started traveling in the Philippines on April 28 before island hopping and arriving in Thailand on May 3.
It was later discovered that the student - who reportedly recently finished a course at Middlesbrough College and hoped to become a nurse - had been arrested at Tbilisi International Airport, Georgia, on May 10.
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The 18-year-old was arrested in possession of '34 hermetically sealed packages containing marijuana … as well as 20 packages of hashish', according to local media reports.
The Georgian interior ministry said in a statement: "B.K, born in 2006, is 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. The committed crime envisions up to 20 years - or life imprisonment."
On May 13, a pre-trial hearing took place at Tbilisi city court and Culley allegedly revealed a significant update regarding her wellbeing.
The teenager told the court she was pregnant, as reported by the BBC.
It's reported she will undergo a medical examination to prove her claims.
The prosecutor asked for 55 days to find evidence, and it is understood that this could be extended by seven more months.
"They [police] said that they had to conduct a lot of investigative activities, so that they can collect evidence, establish where it was from [the narcotics] and was she planning to hand it over to someone," Culley's lawyer, Ia Todua, said.
"That's what they said they want to establish, and they also confiscated her phone."
The teen's father is reported as making his way to Tbilisi.
Elsewhere during the court proceedings, Culley is reported as having remained silent and her lawyer spoke out, arguing for her release on bail.
They said: "My client is currently exercising the right to remain silent, so we will provide detailed information later, once they decide how to proceed.
"A formal request must be submitted to the relevant authority, and then more detailed information regarding my client can be provided.
"At this stage, [she is] invoking [her] right to silence, and further developments will be shared later once a decision is made."
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in the UK has said: "We are supporting the family of a British woman who is detained in Georgia and are in contact with the local authorities."