British Woman Bags 3-year Jail-Term in Egypt on drug smuggling charge

A British woman who says she was carrying painkillers for her ailing partner was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison and fined the equivalent of $5,611 by an Egyptian court.

Laura Plummer, 33, was arrested on October 9 at Hurghada International Airport on the Red Sea after police reportedly found 290 tablets of tramadol in her suitcase.

Plummer, a shop assistant from Hull in east Yorkshire, was charged with drug possession and smuggling. Her lawyers argue the traveler misunderstood a question in court and gave a response that appeared to be a confession.

While tramadol is legal in many countries as a prescription painkiller, it is illegal for a private individual to sell it in Egypt, where it is popular among lower-income sectors.

Plummer said she had brought the drug to her Egyptian husband, Omar Abdel-Azim, who suffers from back pain.

The pair met five years ago in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, when Abdel-Azim worked as a lifeguard.

They were married in 2014 through an unregistered contract, known in Egypt as an "urfi" marriage. Plummer has been visiting her husband regularly since.



CNN.