By Racquel Porter
A Latvian national arrested and charged last March for allegedly attempting to smuggle 4.4 kilogrammes of cocaine out of the island, was on Tuesday freed of drug charges in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court.
The 30-year-old foreigner, Rihards Upenieks, a software service representative, was freed of possession of, dealing in and attempting to export cocaine and conspiracy.
Trisha Millwood, a security check point officer at Norman Manley International Airport, who it is said, at the time of the incident, did not properly inspect the package when it went on the x-ray ramp, was also freed.
The charges were dismissed against the two accused after the prosecutors conceded that based on the evidence in their possession they could not mount a viable prosecution.
Based on intelligence, Mr. Upenieks was under police surveillance at the Norman Manley International Airport moments before boarding his flight to London.
The surveillance revealed that just before being accosted by the police he received a package from an in-bond store sales agent in which parcels of cocaine were found disguised as Jamaican rum.
When confronted by the police with the discovery of the cocaine in the package, Mr. Upenieks denied having knowledge of the narcotic.
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