Tourist faces death penalty for bringing husband’s pain pills to Egypt

Laura Plummer (center) with sisters Jayne (left) and Rachel
A British tourist facing execution for taking prescription painkillers into Egypt is crammed into a tiny cell with 25 other women and a hole in the floor for a toilet.

Laura Plummer, 33, was arrested with the tramadol tablets in her suitcase after she flew into a Red Sea beach resort for a two-week break with her Egyptian husband.

She’s being held on drug trafficking charges at Hurghada 1st Police Department with “murderers, heroin addicts and prostitutes,” her family told Mirror Online.

Plummer’s sister Jayne Synclair, 40, said she fears her little sister will try to end her life after 26 days locked in “repulsive” conditions.

She said: “Her life’s in danger. She can’t stay in there any longer or she will be murdered or kill herself.”

“We went out to see her last week and my mom collapsed at the sight of her. She looked over at us and said, ‘Mom, Mom, please help me, help me.'”

Plummer’s mom, Roberta Synclair, 63, sobbed: “She had no idea she was doing anything wrong. The painkillers were placed at the top of her suitcase, she wasn’t hiding them.”

“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.”

She was kept for five hours at the airport without an interpreter before signing a 38-page statement in Arabic which she thought would let her leave.

Instead, she has been held in a 15-foot-by-15-foot cell with 25 other women for nearly a month.
In her last text home, the terrified shop worker begged her dad, Neville: “I’m in trouble and I need your help.”

Neville, 70, tried to reply but her phone was switched off. He has since spent over $13,000 on legal bills.

Plummer flew to Hurghada airport Oct. 9 for a stay with husband Omar, 33. They met four years ago and she jets out to see him four times a year.

He suffers back pain after an accident, so she took 29 strips of tramadol, each containing 10 tablets, plus some Naproxen given to her by a pal.

In Britain, tramadol is prescription only, but it’s banned in Turkey, where addicts use it as a heroin substitute.

A pill sells for about 10 cents — meaning Laura could have made just $30 even if she wanted to.

Plummer and her husband, Omar

Sinclair and daughters Rachel, 31, and Jayne say Plummer’s been in court twice, each time being returned to cells for 15 days. She’s due back in court Thursday.

Plummer’s sister said: “She is still wearing the same clothes she flew out in. 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 kept saying, ‘Please help me, please help me.’ She looked like a little child again.”

The Foreign Office confirmed: “We are supporting a British woman and her family following her detention in Egypt.”