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'WE'RE TERRIFIED FOR HER'
Egypt jail hell Brit Laura Plummer moved to a new cockroach-infested jail where inmates are tortured with cattle prods
BRIT holidaymaker Laura Plummer has been moved to a notorious prison in Cairo to begin her three-year jail term, we can reveal.
Terrified Laura, 33, was sentenced on Boxing Day for carrying painkillers in her suitcase at the start of a two-week holiday to Egypt.
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She was initially held at a police station in Hurghada on the Red Sea coast as lawyers urgently lodged an appeal.
But on Saturday she was flung into the back of an armoured truck and driven five hours to Egypt's capital to start her sentence in the women's wing of Al Qanater jail - where prisoners are reportedly attacked by guards with cattle prods.
Laura is now locked up 24 hours a day in a 5m x 3m cockroach-infested cell with several other women prisoners and only has a blanket to keep warm.
Books and radios are banned and inmates are regularly subjected to humiliating strip searches and body inspections.
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Laura must also wear an all-white dress. No one has seen or spoken to her since December 27.
Last night, her distraught sister Jayne Synclair, 40, said: "We are worried sick. We had no idea she was being moved."
She added: "We got a call on Sunday to say she'd been sent to Cairo. No one has seen her since she was sentenced and we're absolutely terrified for her.
"We have no idea what is happening from one day to the next. It's putting a massive strain on all of us.
"We are living this sentence with Laura."
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Overcrowded Al Qanater, the largest women's prison in Egypt, holds up to 1,100 inmates, more than double its capacity.
Family are allowed to visit but can only do so at 15-day intervals and for only 15 minutes at a time.
Its conditions have previously been slammed by human rights experts.
[bc_video video_id="5705741074001" account_id="5067014667001" player_id="default" embed="in-page" caption="Brit Pete Farmer on how he was locked up in cockroach infested jail in Egypt like Laura Plummer "]
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Last month an ex-inmate at the prison revealed the hell-hole conditions Laura will have to endure.
Pete Farmer, 45, was locked up for two years for robbery - but he claims he accidentally picked up the wrong bag in a pub.
Speaking from Essex, Mr Farmer said: "No one deserves that sort of punishment.
"I'm a man and I just got through my sentence. For her as a woman - my heart bleeds for her.
"The conditions are absolutely horrendous. Disease is rife, there are cockroaches and lice and bedbugs.
"It is very, very violent. I can recall being in a line and seeing people being beaten and burned on their private parts with cattle prods.
"It's horrendous."
Shop worker Laura, of Hull, East Yorkshire, was seized by customs officials after she flew into Hurghada airport on October 9 with 290 tramadol tablets.
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[bc_video video_id="5695523105001" account_id="5067014667001" player_id="default" embed="in-page" caption="Brit Pete Farmer on how he was locked up in cockroach infested jail in Egypt like Laura Plummer "]
They are legal on prescription in the UK but banned in Egypt.
Laura told prosecutors the pills were for her Egyptian husband, Omar Saad, 33, who suffers back pain after a car crash but they refused to believe her.
The Sun flew out and tracked Omar down before uncovering crucial evidence which proved Laura was telling the truth from the very start.
Yet after a brief court hearing she was still jailed for three years.
Lawyers claimed the sentence was a good result - she had been facing the death penalty - but her family are beside themselves with worry.
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Her sister Rachel Plummer, 31, said: " For someone who is innocent three years is a life time.
"I have no idea how she will cope in prison. I wouldn't be able to cope and I consider myself a stronger person than Laura.
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"I'm so scared for her. It's the not knowing that is killing us. Not knowing who she is with and how she is being treated.
"That's what is hurting the most - and not be able to speak to her."
Egypt's prison system has faced a number of human rights complaints amid claims of beatings and torture.
Last night, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We continue to provide assistance to Laura and her family, and our embassy remains in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities."
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