British Tourist jailed for smuggling 290 Tramadol tablets into Egypt

 

The British woman was arrested after she was found to be carrying 290 tramadol tablets in her suitcase, a painkiller which is legal in the UK but banned in Egypt.

Plummer, 33, from Hull, had her trial adjourned yesterday as she wept in the dock after accidentally pleading guilty due to a mix-up with her interpreter.

The trial was held this morning with a new interpreter where she was jailed by a judge for three years.

Plummer claimed she was carrying the tablets for her Egyptian partner Omar Caboo, who suffers from severe back pain, and had no idea they were illegal.
 
Her jail term was announced on a Facebook group set up by her family, who said her lawyers lodged an immediate appeal.

Plummer’s family, who have described her as ‘naive’, previously shared fears she faced 25 years in jail or the death penalty if found guilty.

Her Christmas Day court appearance was called off yesterday when she broke down in tears after the interpreter confusion.

Karl Turner, the MP for Hull East, told Sky News the hearing was adjourned to find her another interpreter.

He said: ‘Apparently something was lost in translation, the defence lawyer wasn’t confident that Laura was understanding the questions first of all, and the interpreter wasn’t correctly translating what Laura was saying in her answers.’

 Her lawyer Mohamed Othman said a plane ticket which showed she paid twice as much for her flights as the drugs were worth shows she was not looking to sell them.

‘For someone to be found guilty of drug smuggling they have to be aware that they are possessing narcotics. Laura did not know that what she was carrying was a narcotic,’ he said.

Plummer has been held in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada since her arrest at the airport on October 9.

She previously said she had no idea what she doing was illegal and was just ‘daft’ after being given the Class C painkillers by a work friend.

Laura’s mum, Roberta Sinclair, said her daughter made no attempt to hide the medicine and thought it was a joke when she was first pulled over by officials.

Since then, she said, her daughter has been ‘living in hell’ sharing a jail cell with no beds with up to 25 other women.