British teenager freed in Georgia after a plea deal over 14 kg of cannabis
Bella May Culley, 19 and pregnant, faced life in prison for bringing 12 kg of marijuana and 2 kg of hashish into Tbilisi. Under a plea deal she was sentenced to the time she had already served and fined 500,000 lari.
🇬🇪 Tbilisi City Court · Georgia
- Charged
- 1
- Cannabis
- 14 kg
- Prison
- 5 months 24 days (time served)
- Fine
- GEL 500,000
Bella May Culley, a British citizen, was arrested at Tbilisi International Airport in 2025 with 12 kilograms of marijuana and 2 kilograms of hashish in her luggage.[1] Under Georgia’s drug trafficking law she faced a possible life sentence.[1][2] Her family had reported her missing in Thailand before she was found in Georgia.[2]
In court, Culley said she had been “forced by torture” to carry the drugs, and that she had never thought this could happen to her.[2] In July 2025 the court refused an early plea offer of 50,000 lari and kept her in pre-trial detention.[2]
On 3 November 2025, Judge Giorgi Gelashvili of Tbilisi City Court found her guilty under a plea agreement.[1] She was sentenced to five months and 24 days in prison, the time she had already spent in detention, and fined 500,000 lari (about £145,000).[1] She was freed.[1]
Sources
- Pregnant British woman freed in Georgia after drug smuggling case. Front News Georgia, 3 November 2025. Archived copy.
- Pregnant Brit facing jail after 'smuggling 14kg of cannabis into Georgia' tells court 'I didn't think this would happen to me'. LBC, 24 July 2025. Archived copy.