British woman faces trial in Egypt for allegedly smuggling painkillers

British woman faces trial in Egypt for allegedly smuggling painkillers
British woman Laura Plummer faces a criminal trial in Egypt after she allegedly smuggled powerful painkillers into the country.
2 min read
12 November, 2017
A British woman faces trial accused of smuggling banned drugs into Egypt [Getty]
A British woman held in Egypt accused of smuggling drugs into the country will face a criminal trial.

Laura Plummer, 33, from the northern city of Hull, was arrested on October 9 at Hurghada airport in the Red Sea resort city after officials found 290 Tramadol pills in her suitcase. 

She has insisted the tablets were for her Egyptian partner who she said suffers from chronic back pain. The drug is legal in the UK but it is banned by Egypt, because it is widely used as a heroin substitute.

No date has yet been set for her trial and she will remain in custody at a police station.

The shop assistant told the BBC she had "no idea" the painkillers she was carrying were banned in the country.

But local police said that ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

Her lawyers had hoped to apply for bail on Saturday, but a custody hearing was cancelled.

Her family had been told she could face up to 25 years in jail for drug trafficking, with one lawyer even mentioning the death penalty.

In a phone call from prison, Plummer told the BBC her cell in a police station was the size of her bedroom in the UK, but she was having to share it with 25 other women.

Her family have said Plummer was "unrecognisable" after four weeks in custody in Egypt.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said its officials were "supporting a British woman and her family following her detention in Egypt".