British tourist 'mistakenly pleads guilty' in Egypt drug smuggling trial

An Egyptian judge has adjourned the trial of a British woman accused of drug smuggling after her answers to the court were 'lost in translation'.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

26 December, 2017

Laura Plummer has been held in Egypt since being arrested in October [Plummer Family handout]

A British woman on held in Egypt for smuggling painkillers will appeal to her trial's judge after she mistakenly pleaded guilty, her lawyers say.

Laura Plummer, 33, recently attended her first day of trial in the Red Sea town of Safaga, however the proceedings were adjourned when she became overwhelmed with distress, her sister said.

The trial will reportedly resume when a new interpreter is found.

Plummer, a shop worker from the northern English city of Hull, was arrested in Hurghada airport in October when she was found to be carrying 290 tramadol tablets in her luggage.

Although legal in Britain, Tramadol is banned in Egypt and several other countries due to its abuse as a heroine substitute.

Plummer insisted that the tablets were for her Egyptian partner, who required the painkillers for his chronic back pain.

According to defence lawyer Dia al-Bassal, Plummer replied in the affirmative when asked by the judge whether she had carried the tramadol pills into Egypt.

This was misunderstood by the judge as an admission of guilt, Bassal told The Telegraph.

"She meant that she is admitting that she had the Tramadol, but not admitting of being guilty. The judge jumped to the conclusion that she confesses before clarifying that she understood the question and this is worrying," Bassal said.

Plummer then reportedly broke down in tears when she realised that a mistake had been made.

According to lawyers who spoke to the Plummer family earlier this year, Ms Plummer could face up to 25 years in jail for drug trafficking.

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.