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A BRITISH teenager arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs is “depressed, confused and scared” as she faces possible life imprisonment in Georgia, her lawyer has said.

Bella May Culley, 18, from Teesside, has appeared in court after being arrested in Tbilisi for allegedly entering the country with 34 bags of marijuana hidden in her luggage.

Photo of Bella May Culley, a missing teenager.
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Bella May Culley, 18, has been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling in GeorgiaCredit: NCJ Media
A handcuffed woman in court.
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Culley appeared in court in Tbilisi earlier this week accused of entering the country with drugs hidden in her luggageCredit: East2West
Seized hashish.
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Georgian Police said officers seized up to 12kg (26lbs) of marijuana and just over 2kg (4.4lbs) of hashishCredit: Unpixs
Police officers stand guard outside a prison.
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Georgian policemen stand guard in front of the prison in Rustavi, outside Tbilisi, where Culley has been sent toCredit: AFP
Illustration of Bella's travel route from the UK to the Philippines, Thailand, and Georgia, ending in a Georgian prison.
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The teenager, who told the court she was pregnant, had been reported missing while on holiday in Thailand before being arrested some 4,000 miles away in Georgia.

She's the great-granddaughter of a former Labour MP caught up in 2009's parliamentary expenses scandal, it has emerged.

Ia Todua, the lawyer who represents her, said: “The detainee says that she is pregnant.

“She needs special examination and attention.

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“In addition, in my assessment, she was depressed, confused and scared.”

Explaining her decision to remain silent, Todua told RFE/RL: “When the accusation was presented, given that it was a foreign environment for her, it was her first time communicating with law enforcement officers, we agreed on such a position that she should exercise her right to remain silent in order to develop herself.”

Todua revealed Culley’s father Neil, who lives in Vietnam, was flying to Tbilisi to support his daughter.

The teen, from Billingham, was detained after 34 hermetically sealed bags of cannabis and 20 bags of hashish were allegedly found in her suitcase after arriving into the ex-Soviet republic from Thailand.

The British embassy in Tbilisi said: “We are assisting the family of the British woman detained in Georgia and are also in contact with the local authorities.”

Law enforcement is expected to contact Culley “in a few days” in her detention jail.

It's possible a separate legal team will be hired.

A report said that neither the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor the Customs Department of the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance in Tbilisi say which country the British woman entered Georgia from, nor whether Georgia was her final destination.

Any onward travel plans have not been disclosed.

Bella Culley in handcuffs at a Georgian courthouse.
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Culley vanished while holidaying in Thailand before being arrested in Georgia on drug chargesCredit: Prime Time
A British woman in handcuffs escorted by police.
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She faces possible life imprisonment in Georgia for allegedly carrying bags of cannabis and hashish in her suitcaseCredit: East2West

Culley had been travelling around Asia before her arrest.

Her family raised the alarm after she failed to contact anyone after Saturday.

A loved-one said: "She is just a student - she doesn’t really go out or do anything like that. She just wanted a break so took herself to Thailand.

"She must have become mixed up with someone. She must have met someone who has taken advantage of her."

Georgia's Interior Ministry says she could face 20 years or even a life sentence in Women's Penitentiary No. 5, a prison in the town of Rustavi just outside Tbilisi.

Culley's paternal grandfather said: "I’m terrified that she’s in for a long sentence. I might never see her again - I’m 80 years old.

"She’s got sucked into something, somehow. She’s not an international drug trafficker.

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"It’s all just very strange and at the moment we just don’t have any answers. We don’t know what to think."

On Tuesday, Georgian authorities released photos of Bella being led handcuffed into a police station.

RIOTS, HUNGER STRIKES AND STRIP SEARCHES... LIFE IN A BRUTAL GEORGIA PRISON

A report by Georgia's ombudsman into Women's Penitentiary No. 5 outlines the horrors that could await the Brit teenager.

"When prisoners are received at the No.5 Facility,
they are inspected naked and are requested to squat, which the inmates consider degrading treatment," the report reads.

"According to inmates, this procedure is especially humiliating and intensive during an inmate's menstrual cycle."

Hygiene problems are said to be rampant, with reports of no running drinking water and clogged drains.

Just earlier this year, the journalist Mzia Amaglobeli went on hunger strike inside the women's prison in protest against Georgia's government.

In 2006, a Tbilisi prison saw seven inmates killed and 17 seriously injured in one of the country's worst ever prison riots.

Authorities were accused of using excessive force.

A Human Rights Watch report has found Georgia's prisons are "severely overcrowded" - which threatens the safety of inmates.

A young woman in court, suspected of drug smuggling.
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Culley seen in court in Tbilisi after being detainedCredit: East2West
A handcuffed woman escorted by a police officer.
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She was held at Tbilisi airport on suspicion of carrying 12kg of cannabisCredit: East2West
Young woman sitting on a green motorcycle in Thailand.
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The 18-year-old is believed to have entered Georgia directly from ThailandCredit: Facebook
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