Bella May Culley: Pregnant British teenager tells court she was ‘forced’ to smuggle drugs into Georgia

A British teenager currently imprisoned in Georgia has said she was “tortured” into smuggling drugs into the country.

Bella Culley, 19 from Billingham, Teesside, is in police custody in the former Soviet republic accused of purchasing, possessing and trafficking a large quantity of narcotics, including marijuana. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

She had been travelling in Asia in April and May before she was arrested in Tbilisi International Airport on 10 May, where police seized 11kg of marijuana and around 400g of hashish from a travel bag.

Ms Culley was refused bail at a pre-trial hearing at Tbilisi City Court on Tuesday.

Malkhaz Salakaia, representing Ms Culley, said she had been threatened with a hot iron to coerce her into travelling with the suitcase filled with drugs, according to the BBC.

Ms Culley stood in front of the judge in the courtroom and showed her scarred right wrist.

Speaking in court, the teenager claimed she had been forced into the drugs trade.

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“I did not want to do this. I was forced to do this through torture,” she said. “I just wanted to travel. I am a good person. I am a student at university. I am a clean person. I don’t do drugs.”

Mr Salakaia said the teenager was not aware of what was in her suitcase, telling the court she tried to inform customs officers in Thailand “but nobody paid attention”, the BBC reported.

“She was instructed to fly to Georgia – she did not even know where Georgia was located geographically,” he added.

He also told the court that Ms Culley was 18 weeks pregnant.

The teenager’s family was ready to pay the 50,000 georgian lari for bail money to get her out of prison, Mr Salakaia said. Her father, aunt and grandfather were reportedly in attendance at the courtroom.

Judge Lela Kalichenko denied Ms Culley bail and remanded her into custody until the next court hearing, which is scheduled for 10 July.

The teenager had decided to travel to southeast Asia after finishing her course at Middlesbrough College. Her mother toldTeesside Live that her daughter flew to the Philippines after Easter with a friend and was there for three weeks.

Ms Culley went to Thailand on 3 May, reportedly to meet friends she had made on a previous trip that her mother did not know. She vanished in Thailand before resurfacing at Tbilisi International Airport.

The Georgian interior ministry has said the teenager is facing up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment.

A statement read: “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.”