Woman sentenced to three years in jail for bringing pain killers to Egypt

A woman from the United Kingdom was sentenced to three years in jail and fined $5,611 dollars for bringing potent painkillers into Egypt.

Laura Plummer, 35, was arrested in October at the Hurghada International Airport for possessing nearly 300 tablets of the painkiller tramadol. She was charged with smuggling and drug possession. CNN reports the drug is legal with a prescription in the U.K., but it is illegal to sell in Egypt.

Plummer says she didn’t know it was illegal and was bringing it for her partner, Omar Caboo, because he suffers from back pain, according to the BBC. Plummer’s lawyers argued that the drug was not listed as illegal in the U.K. travel advisory. A month after her arrest they added the warning.

The BBC also reports that she got the pills from a friend and made no effort to hide them. Plummer plans to appeal the sentence.