December 26, 2017
Laura Plummer jailed for three years for smuggling drugs into Egypt
A shop assistant from Hull has been sentenced to three years in an Egyptian jail after she was convicted of smuggling drugs into Egypt.
Laura Plummer, 33, has already been detained for nearly three months after she was arrested on suspicion of trafficking drugs at Hurghada international airport on the Red Sea coast, by customs officers who found 290 tramadol tablets in her luggage.
Tramadol, a highly potent synthetic opioid, is a controlled drug in Egypt, meaning it can only be prescribed by medical professionals, but it is often obtained illegally and is said to be the country’s most abused drug.
“Three years. I can’t believe it. We are devastated,” Plummer’s sister, Rachel Plummer, told the Guardian, adding: “We had all the evidence showing her innocence.”
Plummer’s family said her partner, Omar Caboo, had previously presented medical records that they said proved he suffered from long-term back problems requiring pain medication.
Asked whether she felt confident that the British government would be able to help free her sister now she had been sentenced, Rachel Plummer said she was not hopeful. “They would have done so by now, surely?” she said.
Rachel Plummer added that she was rushing to visit her sister in Egypt as soon as possible. “I can’t believe this is happening. It’s so unfair,” she said.
British diplomats have previously felt unable to intervene until after Plummer’s sentencing. However, the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, previously assured Plummer’s MP, Karl Turner, that he would continue to do everything he could to help Plummer and her family.
In a statement on Tuesday, Turner called Plummer’s sentence a “massive blow” to her family. He said it was clear that the “decent, honest and hard-working Hull woman” was not a drug trafficker and would not have understood the dangers of taking the substance into the country.
“Now that the judicial process has completed I have no doubt that Foreign Office ministers will be making representations to their Egyptian ministerial counterparts to see what can be done to bring this shocking saga to an end,” he said. “Laura’s defence team are currently considering whether they should appeal and they have 60 days to lodge that appeal. I’m hoping good sense will finally prevail.”
Plummer’s lawyer, Mohamed Osman, confirmed the sentence to the Guardian on Tuesday morning. He has argued that Plummer did not traffic the tramadol to sell, but brought it in just for her partner’s use.
The sentencing comes a day after proceedings were postponed because a mistaken translation caused the judge to believe that Plummer had confessed to trafficking the opioid painkiller.
Plummer was first arrested on 9 October after a scan of her bags revealed she was carrying a large supply of tramadol. She was later forced to sign a 38-page confession document in Arabic, which she does not read or understand.
Her family has previously said Plummer had no idea that what she doing was illegal and was just “daft”.
They said she did not try to hide the medicine, which she had been given by a friend, and she thought it was a joke when she was pulled over by officials after arriving for a holiday with Caboo, to whom she has been married for 18 months and whom she visits several times a year.
Tramadol is the most abused drug in Egypt, according to a minister, and authorities have staged a crackdown in recent years to prevent the widespread misuse of the drug. The synthetic opioid is only available on prescription but is often obtained illegally and used as a heroin substitute, as it is elsewhere in the world.
Egypt’s drug control fund, which has a free helpline, received more calls about tramadol than any other drug in August, according to Ghada Wali, the minister for social solidarity. It received 48,000 calls between January and June for issues regarding the drug.
Top news around the world
Academy Awards

‘Oppenheimer’ Reigns at Oscars With Seven Wins, Including Best Picture and Director

Get the latest news about the 2024 Oscars, including nominations, winners, predictions and red carpet fashion at 96th Academy Awards

Around the World

Celebrity News

> Latest News in Media

Watch It
Olivia Munn Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Double Mastectomy Procedure | E! News
March 13, 2024
kUaEV1Kd3S0
Travis Kelce Shares Details From His Trip to Singapore With Taylor Swift | E! News
March 13, 2024
3YXi-Dgf4eg
Kate Middleton VIRAL Photo: Agency Addresses Photoshop Claims | E! News
March 13, 2024
S4VkO0TpkCY
Da'Vine Joy Randolph Plays 'Smash or Pass' With Iconic Moments From Her Career
March 13, 2024
vkPdJEF2BX4
Jean Smart Wears a Hotel Bathrobe to Present an Award to Hannah Einbinder l Power of Comedy SxSW
March 12, 2024
Bw7uVEYQev4
Lenny Kravitz Walk of Fame Ceremony
March 12, 2024
MlWq8BcnwhE
Dak Prescott Extortion Plot & Steph Curry for President? | TMZ Sports Full Ep - 3/12/24
March 13, 2024
jHFsrjs7OFY
A Japanese space rocket blew up after takeoff Tuesday, turning the sky into a fireball of smoke.
March 13, 2024
YkfJ3Qg8B7c
#KimKardashian and #BiancaCensori hung out at #KanyeWest's listening party Tuesday night!
March 13, 2024
EfwLLq6bx9k
‘Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond denies using Ozempic to lose 60 pounds
March 13, 2024
Omfjk1AlZ3A
Chrissy Teigen reveals her ‘boob lift scars’ in daring dress at Jay-Z & Beyoncé’s Oscars 2024 party
March 13, 2024
VxZ2qXAlpmU
Zoë Kravitz pokes fun at dad Lenny Kravitz's style during Hollywood Walk of Fame speech
March 13, 2024
j3-lcFu_1sQ
TV Schedule
Late Night Show
Watch the latest shows of U.S. top comedians

Sports

Latest sport results, news, videos, interviews and comments
Latest Events
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Atletico Madrid - Barcelona
17
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Manchester United - Liverpool
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Inter Milan - Napoli
17
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund - Eintracht Frankfurt
17
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Chelsea - Leicester City
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Roma - Sassuolo
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Verona - AC Milan
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Juventus - Genoa
17
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
SC Freiburg - Bayer Leverkusen
17
Mar
USA: Major League Soccer
Atlanta United - Orlando City
17
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
West Ham United - Aston Villa
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Rayo Vallecano - Real Betis
17
Mar
ENGLAND: Championship
Leeds - Millwall
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Las Palmas - Almeria
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Villarreal - Valencia
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Sevilla - Celta Vigo
16
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Darmstadt - Bayern Munich
16
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Manchester City - Newcastle United
16
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Fulham - Tottenham Hotspur
16
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Osasuna - Real Madrid
13
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Atletico Madrid - Inter Milan
12
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Barcelona - Napoli
12
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Arsenal - Porto
11
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Chelsea - Newcastle United
10
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Liverpool - Manchester City
10
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Real Madrid - Celta Vigo
10
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Aston Villa - Tottenham Hotspur
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Juventus - Atalanta
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Fiorentina - Roma
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
AC Milan - Empoli
09
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Werder Bremen - Borussia Dortmund
09
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Arsenal - Brentford
09
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Bologna - Inter Milan
Find us on Instagram
at @feedimo to stay up to date with the latest.
Featured Video You Might Like
zWJ3MxW_HWA L1eLanNeZKg i1XRgbyUtOo -g9Qziqbif8 0vmRhiLHE2U JFCZUoa6MYE UfN5PCF5EUo 2PV55f3-UAg W3y9zuI_F64 -7qCxIccihU pQ9gcOoH9R8 g5MRDEXRk4k
Copyright © 2020 Feedimo. All Rights Reserved.