[Photo: File]
The Suva High Court has ordered the State to destroy 20.8 kilograms of cocaine held in police custody and submit a destruction report to the Court.
The directive follows a court-ordered retest of the drugs linked to the case of convicted Colombian national Aiden Alec Hurtado.
Justice Rajasinghe had ordered the State two weeks ago to retest the seized substances and verify their weight after the Court was informed that the drugs had not been destroyed and remained in police custody.
During proceedings this morning, the State confirmed that the 20.8 kilograms of seized substances had been retested and returned positive results for cocaine.
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The laboratory report was subsequently submitted to the Court.
Following confirmation of the results, Justice Rajasinghe directed the State to proceed with the destruction of the drugs and file a report confirming their destruction.
Hurtado was convicted in 2017 of unlawfully importing 18 kilograms of cocaine into Fiji in 2014.
He was initially acquitted in 2015, but following an appeal by the State, the matter was referred back to the Suva High Court for a retrial, which resulted in his conviction.
Hurtado was sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 years.
After accounting for time spent in remand, his effective sentence was reduced to 13 years and 11 months, with a non-parole period of 11 years and 11 months.