By Bruce Asemota
The High Court in Banjul, presided over by Justice Ebrima Jaiteh has acquitted and discharged four Portuguese ladies and ordered five Gambian airport employees to open their defence in a drug trial.
Justice Jaiteh made this declaration in a ruling on a no case to answer submission filed by the defence.
The accused persons are charged with three counts of drug offences.
The four ladies, Vilma Cabral Roel, Ana Patricia Dos Santo Furtado, Simara Nadiya Martins and Miriam Maria Mendes were alleged to have been in possession of prohibited drugs for trafficking and were intending to board a flight to Barcelona, Spain in June last year.
There were charged alongside five Gambian airport workers, Seedy Ceesay, Lamin Ceesay, Yaya k.Jatta, Modou Bojang and Muhammed Jallow .
The trial judge disclosed that after due consideration of the arguments presented before the court, he found out that the prosecution has not laid out a prima facie case against the four Portuguese ladies and therefore accept that they have no case to answer.
However according to the judge, the prosecution laid significant foundation in establishing a prima facie case against the five Gambian airport employees.
He said the case revolves around a complex network of actors involved in the dealing of illicit drugs as highlighted by the five airport staff.
Justice Jaiteh disclosed that it is only through presenting their defence that the five can clarify their roles and respond to the charges of drug dealing and conspiracy against them.
The five were accordingly asked to enter their defence on the 26 May.
