Brit mum facing 20 years in Cambodia hellhole jail for smuggling drugs insists she was 'set up'

Brit mum facing 20 years in Cambodia hellhole jail for smuggling drugs insists she was 'set up' Tamara Martins' brother has said his sister is being held in Cambodia's infamous CC2 prison without proper access to food and clothing after she was framed as a drug mule A Brit mum facing decades in a hellhole Cambodian prison has insisted she was set up after she was caught allegedly trying to smuggle 34kg of cannabis. Tamara Martins, 31, has claimed she was approached at a bar by a man and "set up" after he asked her to transport a suitcase of electronics to the UK, for a fee. She says she only have discovered the case was packed with 71 cannabis parcels when she was stopped at Techo Airport. Ms Martins, from Croydon, must now answer to Cambodia's zero-tolerance drugs laws, with her family trying to get the mum legal support from more than 6,000 miles away. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Trey, Ms Martins' younger brother who is caring for his sister's young daughter, said he didn't even know she was in the southeast Asian nation until he got a call from her. Trey, 29, said she was "extremely erratic" when he first heard from her. He said: "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 was extremely erratic. She was upset, asking if I could do anything to help, and saying how sorry she was." Ms Martins is one of more than 200 Brits currently detained in Southeast Asian nations over alleged cannabis smuggling after being lured by criminal gangs. In September, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) warned that consular cases involving Brit nationals arrested abroad for the offences more than quadrupled between 2023 and 2025. Cases rose from just over 80 in 2023 to more than 340 in 2025, and more than 160 cases have been reported so far in 2026. The massive increase, the FCDO said, was driven by cannabis-related arrested across several nations, namely Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos. Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty warned that unsuspecting Brits are made to bear the consequences of criminals' actions after being hoodwinked into transporting an illegal payload. Trey said his sister is among them, telling the Mail: "She's never been arrested for anything to do with drugs and she's never been involved in that sort of stuff." The siblings were initially able to stay in contact while Ms Martins was being held at a tourist detention centre, but she has since been moved to the notorious CC2 women's prison. The overcrowded facility has made headlines for years over its alleged severe human rights abuses, with inmates reportedly being coerced, abused and subject to slave labour practices. Since being transferred to the facility, Ms Martins said in a letter, she hasn't "been able to sleep, eat or anything", and, penniless, has been unable to get any proper food, sanitary products, or even underwear. An FCDO spokesperson said: "We are supporting a British National detained in Cambodia and are in contact with the local authorities."