The defendants in the much talked-about US$10 million cocaine case have been found not guilty by the empaneled Jury of the Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia.
However, this case, which is said to be Liberia’s biggest narcotic drug case, resulted from the TRH Trading shipment of the drugs from Brazil to Liberia, with the jury finally handing down their verdict.
Four persons were indicted by the government in connection with the shipment of the cocaine and they have been tried on multiple charges including criminal conspiracy, money laundering, unlicensed possession of controlled drugs and unlicensed importation of controlled drugs.
Furthermore, the jurors have for the past three months been listening to testimonies from a total of seven general witnesses and five defense subpoena witnesses during the trial at Criminal Court “C”.
So earlier today, Thursday, May 18, 2023, the jury brought down their not guilty verdict in the courtroom, following a closing arguments by both the defense lawyers and the prosecution.
Last month (April), the legal Counsel representing the defendants in the ongoing US$100 Million cocaine case at the Criminal Court “C” Temple of Justice, Cllr. Wilkins Wright claimed that the defendants currently standing trial are all victims who were wrongly arrested.
During the trial, state prosecution paraded six general witnesses and three rebuttal witnesses, as well as, CCTV footage(videos) one of the defendants’ cell phone believed to have contained photo of the containers carrying the stockpile of cocaine and a physical testing of the drug in open court to prove to the jurors the existence of the cocaine allegedly seized from the THR premises on the Somalia drive.
It can be recalled that in November last year, the Liberia National Police over the weekend forwarded to court t suspects involved in the $100 million cocaine saga, and were charged with drugs trafficking, money laundering, Criminal Conspiracy and criminal facilitation amongst others crimes, after their arrests on October 1, 2022.
The crackdown, which was largely made possible with extensive assistance from United States security apparatus from the point of departure in South America up to arrival in Monrovia, came amid repeated calls on Liberian Lawmakers to strengthen and pass the country’s drugs law by making the crime nonbailable.
The post Breaking News! Defendants In US$100M Cocaine Case ‘Found Not Guilty’ appeared first on African Entertainment.
source https://africanentertainment.com/breaking-news-defendants-in-us100m-cocaine-case-found-not-guilty/
No comments:
Post a Comment