UK3 min(s) read
A 31-year-old British mother has spoken out about the horrific conditions she is facing inside a Cambodian prison after being detained for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs out of the country.
London-born Tamara Martins has claimed to authorities that she was asked to transport a suitcase full of electronics back to the UK for cash by a man who approached her in a bar.
The young mom has remained adamant that she only found out about the 34kg of marijuana in her bag at Techo Airport, where cops searched her bags before arresting her.
The Law on the Control of Drugs enforces incredibly strict drug laws in Cambodia, with heavy fines, long prison sentences, or forced rehabilitation for possession, use, and trafficking.
Tamara’s family are desperately trying to get her home by fundraising for legal aid, as she is stuck “thousands of miles away” from her 10-year-old daughter.
Her brother Trey, 29, who is now caring for Tamara's daughter, told the Daily Mail: "I didn't even know she was in Cambodia until she called me. All I heard was her crying.
"She said, ‘I've been arrested. I've been arrested.'
"She's never been arrested for anything to do with drugs and she's never been involved in that sort of stuff."
According to a letter Trey received from his sister, Tamara has been transferred to a women's prison where her phone was confiscated, and the petrifying conditions have severely impacted her mental health.
The now-incarcerated tourist wrote: "It's hell in here. I haven't been able to sleep, eat, or anything.
"I have to try and not think so much about life at home otherwise I'll die from a broken heart... It's really difficult and hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel."
On the GoFundMe page set up to help her family with the eye-watering legal fees required to get a foreign national out of prison in Southeast Asia, her family penned: "While Tamara is detained, her daughter is being cared for by family here in the UK.
"She is safe, loved and being looked after, but she is still a child whose mum is suddenly thousands of miles away from her.
"We are trying to give her as much stability and normality as possible while, behind the scenes, we fight to help her mum.
It continued: "Tamara is not just somebody whose name is attached to a legal case. She is my sister. She is a daughter. And she is a mum with a little girl waiting for her.
"Every donation will go towards helping us obtain legal representation for Tamara and meeting the necessary costs involved in supporting her through this situation.
"Our hope is simply to make sure she has proper help, that she is treated fairly, and ultimately that we can get her back home to her family."
A UK Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We are supporting a British National detained in Cambodia and are in contact with the local authorities."
