Who Is Charlotte May Lee? Inside the Viral Rise of 2025’s Newest Internet Sensation

British former flight attendant Charlotte May Lee, 21, has become the focus of global headlines after Sri Lankan authorities allegedly discovered 46 kg (about 100 lbs) of the synthetic drug “kush” in her two suitcases at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo earlier this month. Investigators value the haul at roughly £1.2 million ($1.5 million), calling it one of the country’s largest single seizures of the narcotic, which police claim is partly manufactured from human bone ash—a detail that has intensified public fascination. According to Sri Lanka’s Police Narcotics Bureau, Lee arrived on a flight from the Middle East after departing her home in Coulsdon, south London. Customs officers flagged her luggage for secondary screening, where X-ray images allegedly revealed tightly wrapped bricks of green plant material. Forensic tests reportedly confirmed the substance as kush, a potent cannabis analogue laced with synthetic cannabinoids that has recently flooded South-Asian street markets. Lee maintains she is innocent, telling local magistrates via an interpreter that she “had no idea” contraband was in her bags and believes she was set up during a layover. Nevertheless, prosecutors have charged her under Sri Lanka’s Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum of 25 years. Bail was denied at her initial court appearance; the next hearing is scheduled for 10 June, when police will present CCTV footage and mobile-phone extractions said to implicate a wider trafficking ring. British consular officials confirmed they are providing assistance but declined further comment. Meanwhile, human-rights advocates have raised concerns about conditions at Colombo’s Welikada Remand Prison, where Lee is being held, citing overcrowding and limited access to legal counsel. The case has sparked intense online debate, driven in part by viral images of Lee’s “glamour” mugshot and her prior career as a cabin crew member for a budget European airline. Search interest in her name surged after outlets including the BBC, Vice, and The Guardian highlighted the unusual composition of kush and its growing link to organized crime across Europe and South Asia. Analysts note that Sri Lanka’s airports have become lucrative transit points for syndicates moving synthetic drugs toward Australian and Middle-Eastern markets. If convicted, Lee would join a small but growing list of foreign nationals handed lengthy sentences in Sri Lanka for narcotics trafficking. Legal experts say her best chance lies in proving that airport security footage fails to show clear possession or knowledge of the drugs, though successful defenses of this kind remain rare. For now, Charlotte May Lee sits at the center of an unfolding international drama—one that intertwines the rise of a grisly new synthetic drug, the tightening of South-Asian border controls, and the viral power of a single name trending across the internet.