Egypt sentences British woman to 3 years' jail for carrying 300 banned painkillers

A British woman has been convicted of smuggling 300 painkiller tablets into Egypt and jailed for three years

Laura Plummer (file photo)
Laura Plummer (file photo)

British woman Laura Plummer has been jailed for three years for after flying into Egypt carrying 300 prohibited painkillers for her husband’s bad back.

The 33-year-old from Hull was arrested on 9 October after the authorities discovered the prescription drugs Tramadol and Naproxen in her suitcase. She is said to have been taking 29 sheets of the medicinal to her Egyptian husband Omar, who suffers from back pain caused by an accident.

Plummer is alleged to have signed a 38-page statement in Arabic which she thought would mean she would be able to leave the airport. Instead, she was placed in a cell with 25 other women for nearly a month.

Today a court in Egypt handed the British citizen - who had faced a potential death sentence for drug smuggling - a three-year prison sentence.

Her family said her lawyers had lodged an appeal. Plummer, who is reported to by "devastated" by the sentence, previously said she had "no idea" the tablets were illegal.