British woman sentenced in Egypt to three years in jail for smuggling painkillers

[webfact]

British woman sentenced in Egypt to three years in jail for smuggling painkillers

 

A general view of al-Bahr al-Ahmar court where British national Laura Plummer faces trial for drug traffiking, in Hurghada, Egypt, November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Aly

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced a British woman to three years in prison on Tuesday for smuggling around 300 painkiller tablets into the country, in a ruling her defence team said she would appeal to have overturned or commuted.

 

Laura Plummer, a 33-year-old shop worker from Hull, was arrested in October after the Tramadol tablets were found in her suitcase. Her family told British newspapers she bought the tablets for her Egyptian partner living in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

 

Plummer attended a hearing in her case on Monday, before Tuesday's sentencing. The court also ruled that she must pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($5,600).

 

Tramadol is a legal, prescription medicine in Britain, but it is banned in Egypt. Plummer was arrested on arrival from Britain in October, and her detention was extended twice prior to her court appearance.

 

Plummer's family said on Tuesday they were disgusted by the way the trial had been conducted.

 

"From day one, this has been a complete nightmare. Yesterday in the court she wasn't even allowed her own interpreter. She had to get the court's interpreter who was interpreting the wrong answers," her sister Jayne Synclair said, speaking on BBC television.

 

The family said Plummer had also been forced to sign Arabic-language documents which she did not understand.

 

"She's on the verge of a mental breakdown ... It's just horrendous," her sister said.

 

Her lawyer said Plummer would appeal, seeking to reverse the verdict or get a commuted sentence, which is possible in the two months after sentencing. He added that she did not know Tramadol was banned in Egypt.

 

Speaking to the court on behalf of Plummer, the lawyer, said she had no criminal intent in bringing in the painkillers.

 

On Monday the lawyer, Mohamed Othman, told Reuters: "It is illogical that she was dealing in Tramadol. She had only 320 pills. Even the plane ticket is almost double the price of those pills."

 

A spokesman from Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We will continue to provide assistance to Laura and her family following the court ruling in Egypt, and our embassy is in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities."

 

(Additional reporting by Mahmoud Mourad and William James in London; Writing by John Davison; Editing by John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-27

[the guest]

... and the moral to this story is, always check the applicable law to the hosting country in which you are intending to  enter. Ignorance unfortunately is not an excuse.

[Coconutman]

Just watch the movie.. midnight express or the tv show locked up abroad  if that doesn't  change someone's mind nothing will

[Khun Han]

Never mind the fact that she obtained the 300 tramadol illegally in the UK.

[alex8912]

Her husband must have known he could not get them in Egypt and she must have known he could not get them in Egypt. Then either of them could google the law of Egypt and make a decision. 

[lopburi3]

So she was only taking 320 Opioid pills, that were evidently not prescribed for her, into a foreign country.  Kind of hard to believe the not knowing it was wrong defense even if not knowing banned..  

[evadgib]

I wish UK media and Govt would give everyone a fair crack of this whip instead of using a sliding scale influenced by:

 

- Age 

- Looks

- Gender

- Date (Christmas!)

 

When did a Foreign Secretary last roll his sleeves up (most recently to Tehran) for anything similar involving a bloke?

 

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by evadgib

[jenny2017]

    Pretty much naive to tell them that she didn't know it. A short Google search would have shown her what she already knew.

 

Would the cops in the UK not smell something fishy if she'd get caught with over 300 tablets of a drug that's often used by hard drug users to cure withdrawal symptoms?

 

  Telling them that she didn't know it is plain stupid. 

[Basil B]

4 hours ago, alex8912 said:

Her husband must have known he could not get them in Egypt and she must have known he could not get them in Egypt. Then either of them could google the law of Egypt and make a decision. 

Her partner...

 

[colinneil]

Shes on the verge of a mental breakdown, says her sister.

Tough, if you cant do the time dont do the crime.

[shackleton]

I thought the Sun Newspaper a while back had evidence she was innocent and would be freed  no doubt they are covering her expenses as well

i am surprised the Human Rights Brigade are not marching through London demanding Boris the Foreign secretary flies immediately out to Egypt

 And demands she is released British you know 

I am afraid its you do the crime you do the time 

[Kadilo]

I thought the Sun Newspaper a while back had evidence she was innocent and would be freed  no doubt they are covering her expenses as well
i am surprised the Human Rights Brigade are not marching through London demanding Boris the Foreign secretary flies immediately out to Egypt
 And demands she is released British you know 
I am afraid its you do the crime you do the time 

Best keep him out of it else she will be doing 10 years.



Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[CG1 Blue]

This story it was typically sensationalised in the UK media; something like "British woman sentenced to prison for carrying pain killers".  This leads people to think it's another case of injustice in a (religion of peace) country with primitive barbaric laws. Imprisoned for carrying a packet of paracetamol...

 

But then you dig a bit deeper and find out it was 320 prescription drugs, and it's clear she's a wrongun. She should consider herself lucky Egypt don't have the Philippines approach to drug crime!

[Basil B]

20 minutes ago, shackleton said:

i am surprised the Human Rights Brigade are not marching through London demanding Boris the Foreign secretary flies immediately out to Egypt

It will be some junior minister with a proposal how to circumvent the UN arms embargo and she will be back on the next plane...

[Rhys]

Goodness, just ....

[SABloke]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

She had to get the court's interpreter who was interpreting the wrong answers," her sister Jayne Synclair said, speaking on BBC television.

So Jayne is fluent in Arabic then?

 

12 hours ago, webfact said:

The family said Plummer had also been forced to sign Arabic-language documents which she did not understand.

 

So why didn't Jayne tell her what they meant? 

[rbmcn]

When she is finally released in Egypt and returns to the UK she will be arrested for her fraudulent acquisition of the drug.

[onlycw]

Syrian assistant doctor, 34, who sexually molested 4 female patients, had his 2 years jail sentence suspended and kept his job? At least the permission to work as a doctor. The court in Deggendorf... Political correctness there and here. It's sickening.

Edited December 28, 2017 by onlycw
corrected a typo

[Basil B]

4 hours ago, rbmcn said:

When she is finally released in Egypt and returns to the UK she will be arrested for her fraudulent acquisition of the drug.

I am not sure the word Fraudulent is correct...

 

It would only be fraudulent if she had used a fake prescription, or gave false information to obtain a perspiration, I do hope ever efforts s being made to find to find those who supplied the drugs and prosecute them, though a bit difficult with the key witness "banged up abroad". 

[DipStick]

On 12/27/2017 at 10:23 AM, Khun Han said:

Never mind the fact that she obtained the 300 tramadol illegally in the UK.

Can you please provide the fact that she obtained these tablets illegally. All I can see from the story (and repeated by English media) is that these tablets are legally available in the UK with a prescription!

[Khun Han]

1 hour ago, DipStick said:

Can you please provide the fact that she obtained these tablets illegally. All I can see from the story (and repeated by English media) is that these tablets are legally available in the UK with a prescription!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42483135

 

Her family have been quoted in the UK press as saying that she got them from a 'friend'. Apart from the fact that it's illegal to obtain prescription drugs and give them to someone else, doctors in the UK don't give out prescriptions for large quantities of drugs such as Tramadol. They don't like giving them out at all, and anyone asking their GP for some would be lucky to get a prescription for 14 days worth, and then need a further consultation.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Khun Han

[lungbing]

9 hours ago, rbmcn said:

When she is finally released in Egypt and returns to the UK she will be arrested for her fraudulent acquisition of the drug.

Probably not.  The daily papers will be fighting for her story of her life in an Egyptian prison and she'll be on some reality show.  Plus the book offer.  Crime pays.