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Original poster

to hope the Foreign Office don't waste any time on Laura Plummer...

684 replies

PiffleandWiffle · 26/12/2017 22:09

She was stupid enough to smuggle drugs into a country against their laws, got caught & got sentenced.

BBC Link

Cue the predictable wailing & cries of "it's not fair" from the family!

Personally, I'd rather the Foreign Office spent it's time trying to help people who are genuinely in trouble abroad rather than idiots drug smugglers....

OP posts:
Elendon · 27/12/2017 09:31

When I was visiting Northern Ireland last I got a bad cold (and haven't been able to shake it since). I brought back some ibuprofen, some cough sweets and some day and night capsules. I checked whether I could bring these back in my hand luggage. They were clearly displayed. I would never try to conceal them.

LP has been travelling to Egypt for quite a few years now. I fail to understand how she could have done this innocently. I do wonder about other travellers, PPs, who just pack their meds in a bag and expect to get into a country with them. Why risk it?

I suspect she will be released in a year. A lesson for a lot of people carrying seemingly innocent drugs.

I hope she gets well soon.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 27/12/2017 09:32

I do feel sorry for her, however stupid she was.

I hope she's allowed to do her sentence in the UK.

Needmoresleep · 27/12/2017 09:32

Turn it around. A naive woman from overseas (Egyptian, Nigerian, Bangladeshi etc - take your pick) is discovered at UK customs with a significant supply of controlled medication, not prescribed for her and not for her own use. She has a prompt trial with a lawyer to defend her, and gets a three year sentence with the scope for time off for good behaviour. Front page news?

I once lived in a Muslim country with a significant problem with addiction to opiod products (mainly heroin - but addicts were not fussy!) General public opinion was to see smugglers and dealers as murderers. I understand that this case has received plenty of coverage in the Egyptian press. I suspect that it would be impossible for local authorities to press for leniency simply because she is British. I think they have done a good job in achieving a "reasonable" balance.

And who knows. The case may act as a useful warning to other naive girls. It may even save some lives, both in Egypt by reducing the supply of opiods and of girls who might be tempted to do the same in a country where are more severe.

TheRottweiler · 27/12/2017 09:33

Well it is OBVIOUS that she KNEW that she was committing a crime.

They were smuggled in, udner the disguise of being an ordinary pain killer.

She KNEW that it was a controlled drug. People like her are part of the reason it is now a controlled drug. When I was first prescribed it it wasn't classified as a Cat C controlled drug at all.

So no sympathy from me.

Elendon · 27/12/2017 09:34

PS. I've witnessed travellers from Northern Ireland have big hocks of ham, bacon and sausages, confiscated from their hand luggage!

Oblomov17 · 27/12/2017 09:34

Goodness me. No one is disputing the fact she's been a daft bint but 3 years really is a long time.

HamishBamish · 27/12/2017 09:35

I was prescribed Tramadol after an op. I had 1 weeks supply prescribed by the consultant on leaving hospital, but had to get another week prescribed by my GP. I'm amazed it was so easy to get tbh. I just went in, spoke to the receptionist and told her what I wanted and why and then DH picked up the prescription later that day. I didn't have to see a GP at all.

As for this woman, she clearly obtained the drug illegally and should have known not to try and take it into another country. Sadly for her family, she has been imprisoned. It could have been a lot worse though.

ILoveTheEU · 27/12/2017 09:36

Arab press says that she put the strips in paracetamol boxes -- deliberate concealment. I dunno if that's reliable or misinformation, though.

k2p2k2tog · 27/12/2017 09:36

I can see how it can be easy to be caught out when you're taking medication prescibed FOR YOU into countries where laws are different. But anyone with half a brain knows Tramadol is very heavy duty and not something dished out like sweeties in the UK, taking lots of tablets into another country "for your boyfriend" is just lunacy.

She's either extremely naive and very stupid, or knew exactly what she was doing. I think probably the latter.

catrin · 27/12/2017 09:37

Serves her right, think she got off very lightly, she was lucky.

And her bloody mp- people will think twice about going to Egypt now. Well if they are wanting to smuggle drugs possibly yes. I can think of other reasons to give it a serve other than the inability to push drugs.

PersianCatLady · 27/12/2017 09:37

CrazyDaze
Codeine is an opiate drug, it does not come from cocaine.

ILoveMillhousesDad · 27/12/2017 09:38

I have zero sympathy. Yes, 3 years is a long time, but it fits the crime.

She smuggled drugs into a country where they are banned, for her boyfriend to sell.

Let's make no bones about this. That is the crux of it.

Nieve, my arse.

Her and her partner set out to make money from selling illegal drugs.

PersianCatLady · 27/12/2017 09:39

The reason the Egyptians are so hot on these are that they are CONTROLLED DRUGS and they are opiates.

Saying that you went to Egypt with heart medications or indigestion pills is totally different.

Some Middle East countries will not even permit OTC co-codamol, remember "Codeine Katie"?

Piggywaspushed · 27/12/2017 09:39

Lots of people on here don't seem to know about private prescriptions. Go online, answer a few questions. Bingo. Private prescription. Not illegal. Not even legally dodgy.

londonista · 27/12/2017 09:40

K2 - I think she is both, extremely dim witted and also that she did it knowingly, think if she got caught she’d just get it confiscated and a slap on the wrist.

Ive taken 4-5 boxes of codeine into Japan several times for my brother, it has been taken off me around 50% of the time. Wouldn’t try it in Egypt tho!!

ButchyRestingFace · 27/12/2017 09:45

Lots of people on here don't seem to know about private prescriptions. Go online, answer a few questions. Bingo. Private prescription. Not illegal. Not even legally dodgy.

Maybe she should have tried that excuse rather than the old “a colleague did it and ran away” line?

At least that way, she wouldn’t be facing further charges on return to the UK? (Not that I think anything will come of it).

makeourfuture · 27/12/2017 09:45

There are clashing stories about the luggage. She answered yes to a question which appeared to be a reading out of charges (I would!) and that was taken a s a guilty plea

Now this is of interest. And I believe she is appealing on this point?

ButchyRestingFace · 27/12/2017 09:46

Nieve, my arse.

Her name’s Laura, actually. Wink

Piggywaspushed · 27/12/2017 09:47

Yes, I think that is what the Foreign Office will protest. It does appear she was highly confused in court.

However, am guessing 'pleading guilty' got her a lighter sentence.

drinkswineoutofamug · 27/12/2017 09:48

Just a quick ponder, but if reports are true, that she was given the drugs here by a colleague. Would British police investigate the colleague? As I'm led to believe, with tramadol now being a controlled drug, it's illegal.
On a side note her story sounds bullshit, a plus note for her, think of all the tv programmes, newspaper/magazine interviews when she's released, and while she's doing her 3 years, plenty of time to write the book.

ohfortuna · 27/12/2017 09:48

I feel sorry for her
yes she's been an idiot but who put her up to it?
Presumably she had arranged to pass the tablets on to someone when she got to Egypt and that someone stood to make money without taking the risk of getting the tablets through customs.

ButchyRestingFace · 27/12/2017 09:48

There are clashing stories about the luggage. She answered yes to a question which appeared to be a reading out of charges (I would!) and that was taken a s a guilty plea

Yeah, so would I.

JUDGE: You are accused of illegally bringing controlled drugs into this country.

ACCUSED: No.

(???)

ButchyRestingFace · 27/12/2017 09:50

However, am guessing 'pleading guilty' got her a lighter sentence.

Wonder if appealing runs the risk of a stiffer one?

ohfortuna · 27/12/2017 09:51

Ive taken 4-5 boxes of codeine into Japan several times for my brother, it has been taken off me around 50% of the time. Wouldn’t try it in Egypt tho!!
I presume you know what you are doing, but I'd be too scared to take anything through any customs! 🤤

TheFirstMrsDV · 27/12/2017 09:51

I don't think she is an innocent victim
I think the news coverage has bordered on the racist
I think her local MP sounded like an idiot defending her on tv.

But I cannot imagine being so full of spite that I would start a thread like this about a person with a family going through a terrible trauma.

She has been convicted and is being punished. Apparently that isn't enough.

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