to think you don't bring 290 tramadol tablets to a foreign country if they aren't even yours

[pisacake]

www.thesun.co.uk/news/4838770/holiday-brit-arrest-jail-tramadol-prescription-pill/

"Laura flew to Hurghada airport on October 9 for a fortnight stay with hubby 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 ten tablets, plus some Naproxen given to her by a pal.

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

A pill sells for 8p — meaning Laura could have made just £23.20 even if she wanted to."

It's an opiate so obviously a controlled drug with a very high abuse potential. Some countries you'd get arrested even if you had a prescription.

She got them from a friend.

She has been very stupid.

Let’s not go down the “Silly Brits” trope. I live in a multi-ethnic area, and there’s a litany of people bringing in/ selling illegal stuff on the basis that it’s fine in their own country.

creambun2 yes we have them. We also have running water and electricity and everything nowadays.

Sproglet it's not fine in this country though. Tramadol are a class C prescription only drug in this country.

I'm guessing the 'friend' is thrilled the family are talking to the media.

Agree that there is more to this than meets the eye, but I doubt that she's a dealer - a dealer would sell the tramadol in the UK, where the street value is higher and without the cost or risk of travelling to Egypt. The re-sale value in Egypt wouldn't come close to covering her travel expenses.

I did wonder if she could be a vulnerable adult in some way?

Having said that, I’ve met a few people in my life who would be stupid enough to do that, especially with peer pressure / if they trusted the friend.

Is everyone who acts stupidly a vulnerable adult these days?

I do wonder if she's a vulnerable adult. Oh please, there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that.
This woman reminds me of the couple who took the 'blow job' wedding photos. They thought they could do whatever they wanted without any consequences for their actions. Well, they couldn't, and neither can this woman.

I have never heard of that medicine, but I wouldn't bring any medicine I thought maybe risky into it for an airport, even in transit. I know that coding is an allowed into Dubai, you AEE for example, there is a French cough cera up that is excellent, but it has codeine. So I didn't dare bring it with me to Vietnam a few years ago because I was transiting in Dubai.

This was on the news again this morning, so I looked up the law on Tramadol in the UK

"Tramadol is a class C drug and is only available with a prescription from a doctor or other healthcare professional that is qualified to prescribe. As a class C drug, it is illegal for anyone else to supply tramadol, to have it or to give it away, even to friends. "

"Having tramadol that is not prescribed for you for your own use (called illegal possession) could result in up to two years in prison and/or an unlimited fine. While selling or giving tramadol away for free, even to friends (called supplying) could result in up to fourteen years in prison and/or an unlimited fine."

The vet prescribed it for our cat's arthritis.
So cats can have it as well as dogs.
The gerbil had a different fix though.

Well I think the foreign office should be trying to get out the woman in Iran first.
This woman is daft at best and at worst drug dealing.

Agree with Ktown the one in Egypt is not much of an asset either dim as anything or a drug smuggler. The one in Iran has been wickedly treated

The one in Egypt does look really quite dim from all her photos. As I expected, the ‘husband’ has gone back to his home town never to be heard or seen of again (well, I’ll give him a couple of years max before he starts charming other unsuspecting tourists in Luxor). I think she was due back in court today.

As for the poor lady in Iran, I have been following that case since it started and it really highlights how shockingly lots of people are treated around the world, what about all the others like her who we don’t know about?

Having tramadol that is not prescribed for you for your own use ...

I’m a bit worried about you pet owners now... you'll have to get yourpets pockets so they can hold their own.

The one in Egypt does look really quite dim from all her photos. As I expected, the ‘husband’ has gone back to his home town never to be heard or seen of again (well, I’ll give him a couple of years max before he starts charming other unsuspecting tourists in Luxor).

When Phil and Holly asked her Mum/Family about this, they said that she's married him over there 'as that's the way to start the process'. Assuming they mean a spousal visa.

I don't believe for a minute that she didn't know. It's illegal here without a prescription. I'm hazarding a guess that this isn't the first time she's done it but it is the first time she's been 'caught' doing it.

She'd have got similar treatment if she'd tried entering the UK with such a haul too.

Interesting that the 'husband' seems to have buggered off. Apparently he was incredibly supportive at the beginning of the week and was helping her price they were for his 'bad back'...

*prove

Who knows Johnsnow, I actually imagine he talked her into signing marriage papers without her properly knowing what he was signing. Why would anyone in their right mind from the uk go over to Egypt and marry someone who was already married and had children? Were the family there? The close family that she still lives with? And they just went along with it and thought it was great? I doubt it. I’d be interested to know if it was a ‘real’ marriage or a random temporary one.

The marriage she would have had is called an orfi marriage and is not legally binding outside Egypt and is morally frowned upon even within Egypt.
It is a type of contract drawn up for a few pounds in a lawyers office and allows people to share a hotel room without trouble from the local police. It is generally used for people conducting holiday relationships and also by prostitutes.

So 3 years for her. I think she has got off lightly.

Silly silly woman. Nobody to blame but herself. All this she was taking them for her husbands bad back. Honestly. I'm not surprised they've jailed her. Not only has she taken illegal drugs into the country, she has insulted their intelligence also.

I wonder if upon her return she'll be prosecuted in the U.K.

I have no sympathy for the stupid woman and I hope the government doesn’t waste time and money getting her home.

How convenient that she’s ‘naive’ and trusting and couldn’t possibly know what she was doing. She’s probably making a decent living off selling them over there, and the Egyptian police are quite right to crack down on Westerners flooding their country with illegal drugs.