Release of drug smuggler Briton from Egyptian jail ‘imminent’
LAURA PLUMMER, the Briton jailed in Egypt for bringing hundreds of painkillers into the country, is about to be released under a presidential pardon, it has been reported.
The 33-year-old shop worker from Hull was arrested in October for trying to bring in 290 tramadol pills into the Red Sea resort of Hurghada and was sentenced to three years for smuggling. She said the pills were for her Egyptian husband’s bad back and did not realise they were illegal in Egypt.
The government plans to pardon 1,647 people to mark the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution, and her family said they expected she would be among those freed.
“We can’t believe it’s over. We’ve prayed for this day since she was arrested. We just want to get her home,” her sister, Jayne, told The Sun.
But both British officials and Ms Plummer’s Egyptian lawyer cautioned that they had not yet seen official confirmation of the proposed release from al-qanater Prison near Cairo.
“I have no information yet,” said Mohamed Othman.
It was yesterday reported that she was on an official list of names signed by Abdel Fattah el-sisi, the president, sent to the interior ministry for publication and that she was expected to be released last night or this morning.