Egypt jail hell Brit Laura Plummer’s signed statement to prosecutors revealed for the first time ahead of prison move
The Sun Online has been shown a copy of the interview Laura, 33, gave just moments after she was arrested by customs officials for carrying painkillers in her suitcase
EGYPT jail hell Brit Laura Plummer's signed statement to prosecutors can be revealed for the first time today - as she prepares to be moved to a new prison.
The Sun Online has been shown a copy of the interview Laura, 33, gave just moments after she was arrested by customs officials for carrying painkillers in her suitcase.
The document - heavily relied upon by prosecutors to press charges - is written in Arabic but has since been translated and shows Laura has stuck rigidly to her story.
It details how she was seized by officers on October 9 as she flew in to Hurghada on Egypt's Red Sea coast for a two-week holiday with her entertainments rep husband Omar Saad, 33.
Shop worker Laura tells how she was given the 290 tramadol tablets by a work colleague in Hull, East Yorks., before she flew out from Manchester Airport.
She arrived into Hurghada and was due to be picked up by a taxi sent by Omar before making the 280-mile journey to his home town of Beni Suef.
But as she went through security the tablets were found. They were discovered sitting at the top of her suitcase and were crucially not hidden.
She denied smuggling the pills into the country to sell and insisted she had brought them to help Omar and his family.
Laura, who was sentenced to three years behind bars on Boxing Day, told them: "I didn't do anything wrong."
But she raised suspicions after she failed to give prosecutors Omar's full name - despite them marrying 18 months earlier.
His full name is Omar Abd El Azim Mohamed Saad.
Laura was also unable to tell investigators where in Beni Suef Omar lived.
She also tells how she brought the tablets for Omar's mum, but later claimed she had been wrongly quoted by an interpreter.
It led prosecutors to conclude that Omar was a figment of her imagination and that she was, in fact, an international drug dealer working alone
Laura Plummer's signed statement to prosecutors revealed
Here, published for the first time, are the key exchanges from her interview:
Public prosecutor: "What do you say about bringing Tramadol into the country, without permission, to sell?"
Laura: "This is not true."
Public prosecutor: "Tell me about the circumstances of your arrest?"
Laura: "I was coming from Manchester to Hurghada. After arriving at the airport someone stopped me from security and asked to see my passport and searched inside my suitcase where he found a bag of tablets.
Public prosecutor: "Were the tablets yours?"
Laura: "Yes they were mine. The security officer said the tablets were drugs and they arrested me and took possession of the tablets. They then brought me here to the public prosecutor's office."
Public prosecutor: "What was your reason for coming to Hurghada?"
Laura: "I came here to see my husband in Beni Suef."
Public prosecutor: "And what is the name of your husband?"
Laura: "His name is Omar."
Public prosecutor: ";What is his full name?"
Laura: "I don't know his full name."
Public prosecutor: "What is his address exactly?"
Laura: "He lives in Beni Suef but I don't know his exact address."
Public prosecutor: "Was he waiting for you in the airport?"
Laura: "No, I was to go to him."
Public prosecutor: "How will you go to him when you don't know his address?"
Laura: "My husband brings a taxi for me."
Public prosecutor: "Tell me about the car that was to pick you up in Hurghada and take you to Beni Suef? What was the name of the driver?
Laura: "I don't know the details of the car. The driver of the car is a man called Salah."
Public prosecutor: "What is his full name?"
Laura: "I don't know what his full name is."
Public prosecutor: "Have you taken a car with Salah before?
Laura: "Yes."
Public prosecutor: "What time?"
Laura: "Last year."
Public prosecutor: "What is the relationship between you and Omar?"
Laura: "He is my husband."
Public prosecutor: "Is there an official contract between you and Omar?"
Laura: "It's not an official, registered contract."
Public prosecutor: "Where is this contract?"
Laura: "There is only one original and that is with Omar."
Public prosecutor: "When did you start your relationship with Omar?"
Laura: "2014."
Public prosecutor: "You've known him since 2014 but don't know his full name?
Laura: "I signed the contract but I didn't know his full family name."
Public prosecutor: "Tell me about the tablets."
Laura: "I brought them to give to the mother of my husband in Beni Suef."
Public prosecutor: "Have you brought tablets like this before?"
Laura: "No. I got them from a friend in England."
Public prosecutor: "What is the name of your friend?"
Laura: "Donna Irvin."
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Omar has since testified and provided documents to show they are married. The Sun also uncovered evidence about his back which proves she was telling the truth.
Laura, from Hull East Yorks., is expected to be moved from her police holding cell in the next few days to begin her sentence as her family plead for her to be released.
Tramadol tablets are available in the UK on prescription but are banned in Egypt. Laura says she had no idea they were forbidden.