Egyptian authorities have detained a British woman who entered the country with painkillers for her husband’s sore back.
Laura Plummer, 33, from Kingston upon Hull was taken into custody for carrying prescription tramadol tablets in her suitcase, reports said.
She was visiting her Egyptian husband, Omar to take a two-week break near a Red Sea resort.
She added, “We’ve been told she’s facing either 25 years in prison or the death penalty. We’re beside ourselves worrying that they’ll make an example of her.”
The newspaper said that the 33-year-old was held for five hours at the airport and signed a 38-page statement in Arabic that she thought would see her leave. But, she’s been held with 25 other women in a 15-foot by 15-foot cell for nearly a month.
Laura’s sister Jayne who visited her in Egypt described Laura as looking like a little child who kept pleading “please help me, please help me.”
“She is still wearing the same clothes she flew out in,” Jayne told The Sun.
“When she came into court that first time she looked dead behind the eyes and was handcuffed to a 6-foot 4-inch policeman holding a machine gun,” she said.
Laura had 29 strips of 10 tramadol tablets for her Egyptian husband’s bad back, the website reported. She had flown to Hurghada airport to go on holiday with her husband, who she meets with four times a year.
Her family have now reportedly spent £10,000 ($13,000 ) on legal bills.
Laura’s brother, James feared that she could face the death penalty.
“She’s so by the book, so routine, she just likes her own home comforts, watches Emmerdale every night or things like that, going to bed at nine o'clock every night,” he said.
“She has a phobia of using anybody else’s toilet, so let alone sharing a toilet and a floor with everybody else. That will be awful for her, it'll be traumatising.”
He added, “It’s awful for Laura ... she’s not a tough person at all. She’s only small.”
A Foreign Office spokesman told the Press Association that they are supporting the British woman and her family following her detention.
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