‘Smuggler’ teen Bella Culley’s family plagued with scam GoFundMe pages as they endure ‘worst time of their lives’

THE family of a British teenager arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs has been plagued with scam GoFundMe pages.

Bella Culley's family took to social media to warn people about the fake fundraising pages that are circulating online.

Bella, 18, faces life in jail after she was arrested at Tbilisi airport for allegedly entering the country with 34 bags of marijuana hidden in her luggage.

Since her arrest a number of GoFundMe pages for her family have been circulated online.

But members of Bella's family have taken to social media to warn people against donating to the unauthorised fundraising pages.

Bella's cousin Claire Taylorson wrote on Facebook: "Please be aware that a GoFundMe has been set up.

Bella’s family do not want any campaigns such as Go Fund Me, and have certainly not asked for any financial help in this form.

“Please respect the family and the difficulties that they are facing.

“No parents ever want to find themselves in this situation, and they are going through the worst time of their lives right now and are at the start of an extremely difficult journey.

“Speculation and rumours are making it harder to navigate through this nightmare.”

There has been a lot of speculation over what happened to Bella as her family insists she must have been led astray.

The teen previously told loved ones she was meeting a man in the Philippines, sparking a police hunt for the mystery man.

Her social media showed her clearly in the company of a male stranger on her travels - but he was never clearly pictured or named.

Bella's granddad William Culley, 80, confirmed yesterday that while she appears to have spent most of March in Thailand she also spent time in the Philippines with a man called “Ross or Russ”.

Mr Culley said: "She went to the Philippines to see somebody, a lad there, who she used to go out with a couple of years ago, who was working out there.

"She said, 'I'm going on my own, but I'm meeting Ross out there. Or Russ, I'm not sure what his name is.

"He was working out there for his father's company or something - but now I wonder if what she told me was true."

Video clips and snaps shared on social media show the teen holding onto a man as she rides pillion on a scooter and another shows her smoking a cannabis spliff.

Another on TikTok shows her joking about  “Bonnie and Clyde” crimes and is captioned: “Don’t care if we on the run baby as long as I’m next to u.”

But Bella’s male companion’s face never appears in the posts and he is never tagged.

Family members said yesterday that she went on to meet a group of young men from the north west of England in Thailand before she was reported missing on Saturday.

Her family raised the alarm, sparking a frantic search which ended in Bella's shocking arrest in Tbilisi.

Bella's dad - who lives in Vietnam - even travelled to Thailand to help look for her.

He has now travelled to Tbilisi to try to see Bella, as he told how he is suffering "every parent's worst nightmare".

Bella appeared in court in the Georgian capital on Wednesday after being detained by cops who are believed to have acted on a tip-off.

Local sources said a border check revealed that “34 hermetically sealed packages containing marijuana were found in the passenger's bag, as well as 20 packages of hashish”.

The teen now faces charges of illegally purchasing and storing narcotics, illegally purchasing and storing the narcotic drug marijuana, and illegally importing it into Georgia.

Her lawyer, la Todua, told The Sun that Bella was shocked at the news that she may face life in jail and said that she "didn't know what she was doing".

Ms Todua said: “When I explained to her the consequences - that she could be sentenced to 15-20 years in prison or life - she was visibly shaken.

“My impression was that she ended up in Georgia without even knowing what she was doing.

“I got the impression she wasn't expecting those consequences."

Bella is due back in court on July 1.

In another shock twist the 18-year-old revealed that she was pregnant.

Ms Todua, said: “She was emotional - she announced in court that she was pregnant and one of the first things that will be done now is a medical check-up.

"The pregnancy will be investigated."

And unexplained records have also emerged revealing Bella’s apparent business links to the Far East - with her listed as the director of at least two companies with Chinese ties.