Woman jailed for smuggling drugs into Egypt has pardon withdrawn.



The British woman jailed for smuggling drugs into Egypt has been told her pardon from authorities has been withdrawn. Laura Plummer’s family say they are devastated by the news and feel they have been ‘double crossed’ after her name was removed from a presidential pardon list.

The 33-year-old, who was jailed for smuggling illegal painkillers into the country, had been told she would be freed early despite being sentenced to three years in prison in Cairo. Her family said she describes the prison as a ‘hell hole’ and say she has been kept in horrendous conditions after she brought 290 Tramadol pills, which are banned in Egypt, into the country in her suitcase on Boxing Day. Laura had reportedly been pardoned by the country’s president over the weekend, but it has today emerged that the presidential pardon reports were false. Egyptian authorities have said there was never any official confirmation that she was on the pardon list released on Saturday.


Her family say they had been given ‘false hope’ but have vowed they won’t give up on her. In a statement posted to Facebook, her sister Rachel said: ‘Just wanted to say thank you everyone for your continuous support.


‘I had no info to update and only found out today my sister was not getting pardoned. ‘We will now look to getting the appeal in process. ‘We will get knocked down over and over but we will keep getting up and do everything we can until we bring her home.’ Laura’s excited family had flown to Cairo this weekend to be ready for her release after being told it was ’95 per cent’ certain.

But her mother Roberta, 63, said the British Embassy had told her there’s been a ‘mistake’. She told The Sun: ‘How can they do this to her? It’s so cruel. ‘We’ve been double-crossed.’ The family has been told an appeal could take up to 10 months to reach court. Laura, a shop worker, was arrested at the airport on October 9 last year when she flew into the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. A court was told she was taking the tablets for her Egyptian partner Omar Caboo, who suffers from severe back pain, and had no idea what she was doing was wrong.


A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: ‘We continue to provide assistance to Laura and her family, and our embassy remains in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities.’ A spokesperson for East Yorkshire Police added: ‘We are trying to determine if a criminal act may have taken place. ‘We are still looking into the circumstances of how the prescription drugs came to be in her possession and if any further individual has committed any offences. ‘This investigation is still ongoing.’ if(window.adverts) { adverts.addToArray({"pos":"mpu_mobile"}) } if(window.adverts) { adverts.addToArray({"pos":"inread_player"}) }


Metro.co.uk