British Mother Faces Up to 20 Years in Cambodian Prison

A British mother could spend up to 20 years in a Cambodian prison after authorities allegedly found 34.5kg of cannabis in her luggage as she tried to leave the country.

Tamara Martins, from Croydon, says she was deliberately framed. According to the 31-year-old, a man she met in a bar offered to pay her to take a suitcase containing electronics back to Britain.

She maintains that she had no idea drugs were inside the luggage until she was detained at Techo Airport, where officials reportedly discovered 71 packets of marijuana among her belongings.

Cambodia enforces some of the region’s toughest drug laws, and trafficking offences can result in life imprisonment.

Martins’s younger brother Trey, 29, told the Daily Mail that he is now caring for her ten-year-old daughter while trying to secure legal assistance for his sister from more than 6,000 miles away.

“I didn’t even know she was in Cambodia until she called me,” he said. “All I could hear was her crying. She kept saying, ‘I’ve been arrested. I’ve been arrested.’”

Trey said his sister sounded distressed and confused during the call, repeatedly asking whether he could help and apologising for what had happened.

He said he was stunned by the allegations, adding: “She’s never been arrested for anything drug-related and she’s never been involved in that kind of lifestyle.”

Martins was initially able to speak with Trey during her first few days at a tourist detention facility.

“At first, she told me the officers had been kind to her,” Trey said. “They allowed her to use her phone and smoke.”

She was later moved to CC2 women’s prison, where her phone was taken away and, according to her family, her living conditions became considerably worse.

In a letter to Trey seen by the Daily Mail, Martins described the prison as “hell” and wrote that she had been unable to sleep or eat properly.

“I have to try not to think too much about life at home, otherwise I’ll die from a broken heart,” she wrote. “It’s really difficult and hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

She also appealed for financial help, saying the situation was so difficult that prisoners without money were left “in the gutter.”

Trey claims his sister cannot reliably obtain food, clothing or essential sanitary products unless she has money available.

He said she is being held in a cell shared by more than 66 inmates, with some prisoners reportedly forced to sleep on the bare floor because there are not enough bunk beds.

Martins has also reportedly been left without underwear and had to borrow some from another inmate.

A report of a visit by British Embassy consular staff, seen by the Daily Mail, said Martins expressed concern about sharing accommodation with prisoners living with HIV and other illnesses.

For Tamara, who works as a model booker in London, one of the hardest parts of her predicament is being separated from her ten-year-old daughter. 

She is wondering where her mum is, Trey says, but he has not told her the truth about the situation, instead telling the child Tamara has been stuck in a blackout.

‘She doesn’t know that her mum has been arrested. She’s calm. I’ve told her, “Your mum’s all right. She’s good. Don’t worry about it. She’s doing the best she can”.’

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Trey describes his sister as a ‘kind’ person who will ‘always be there for you’.

‘My sister and I didn’t always get on, but I would give my heart or my lung to her. I would swap places with her right now if I could. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,’ he says.

Tamara is now one of the 355 Brits detained in Southeast Asia after being accused of being recruited as drug mules. 

Young people are lured by gangs and often incentivised to carry luggage for a fee without knowing its contents. 

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty issued a warning earlier this year of harsh treatment if detained overseas.

Mr Doughty said: ‘No holiday, payment or opportunity is worth risking your freedom, your future or your life.’

He added: ‘Detainees are warning about the dire living conditions they now face decades of in prison or, in some countries, the possibility of the death penalty.’

According to research commissioned by the Foreign Office, a staggering third of young Brits surveyed did not consider travelling with a suitcase packed by someone else to be a risk. 

Trey, who now faces the possibility of being separated from his sister for decades, has urged Britons travelling abroad to exercise extreme caution in Cambodia. 

‘The same people who did this to her, who approached her – where are they? They’re just going to escape and move on to the next person because nobody knows them, nobody knows where they’re from and nobody knows how to contact them.

‘It’s free game for them. The person at the other end who has to deal with it is her.

‘In hindsight, you can say she was an idiot for accepting something like that, but people make choices for whatever reasons. They can’t always be good choices. It’s a shame.’

Laura Bevan, Director of Prisoner and Family Support at Prisoners Abroad, said the organisation is supporting the highest ever number of people facing the death penalty linked to drug arrests.

‘Sentences for drugs offences are much harsher than we would expect here in the UK, and this includes the death penalty in some places,’ she told the Daily Mail.

‘We have heard anecdotal stories from family members that their relative has been led into carrying drugs after being promised a free or cheap holiday abroad, coerced by a new group they have become involved with, or duped at the end of the holiday into carrying drugs without feeling they have the option to say no. 

Bevan said that arrests for drug-related offences by 46 per cent to 355 cases in the last year.

‘The demographic of the people arrested on these charges was also markedly different from what we are used to seeing, with 28 per cent of the new arrests being women and 67 per cent under 35,’ she added.

‘The number of new cases of women in prison increased overall by 82 per cent last year with 115 new cases compared to 63 the year before. 61 per cent of women were detained on drug-related offences, compared to 44 per cent of men.’

Trey has set up a GoFundMe to cover his sister’s legal fees, which can be found here.

An FCDO Spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘We are supporting a British National detained in Cambodia and are in contact with the local authorities.’