Three Brits thrown in prison after ‘drug dealing’ arrest in Malia claim 100 grams of cocaine was ‘for personal use’
Joel Jason, Kyle Cullen and Daley Thompson say they went to Malia to work in a bar over the summer season
THREE British men have been arrested at a Crete holiday resort for alleged drug dealing.
Relatives of Joel Jason, 26, Kyle Cullen, 27, and Daley Thompson, 26, say they went to Malia to work in a bar over the summer season.
Police who raided their apartment say they found more than 100 grams of cocaine which was to be sold to foreign tourists.
The three friends, from Cardiff, allegedly claimed they bought the drugs from an Albanian man for their own use.
Police said they found three large wraps of cocaine in a freezer – and that drug packages could have been carried inside people’s bodies.
The drugs seized are believed to have a street value of up to €10,000 (£8,400).
The three friends from Cardiff travelled to Malia in May and told pals they were staying until November
They are now said to be in Cretes’s infamous Alikarnassos jail, Previous foreign inmates have allegedly been whipped.
Joel Jason’s girlfriend Katie Price, 27, told of her fears for all three men locked up in a rat-infested Greek jail.
She said: “I just want them home, I’m worried it could be years before I see Joel again.
“He went out there to work for the summer with his mates.
“All I know is they were arrested and accused of having drugs in their apartment.”
Mum-of-one Katie and Joel’s family are sending money to Joel to make his life easier in the prison on the island of Crete.
But conditions in the jail are bad especially at this time of year the the heat is stifling.
There are also reports that British prisoners are regularly rope whipped and denied proper medical attention.
Katie, of Cardiff, said: “We just don’t know - Joel doesn’t tell us much.
“I send him money so he can buy a phone card and ring me. We talk at least once a week.
“But the boys don’t know what’s going on themselves and the British Embassy have not been much help.”
The families of the trio admit they may have been using drugs but fear they face long jail terms for dealing large quantities of cocaine.
Joel’s mum Lucia Pavia, 55, said: They are not completely innocent but they are not guilty of the rap the Greeks are trying to get them on.
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“I am very worried about him, he has a job here and a girlfriend who has a young baby.
“The boys say the biggest problem they have is the language barrier.
“They are not getting any legal representation apart from a lawyer they see on the days they go to court.
“That’s no good, they need someone to fight their case properly.”