What Do You Think?

[troach]

I can understand that it can be difficult to spot real drug traffickers especially with all their creative techniques to smuggle drugs.

But to make a mistake with the lab test and not double check it immediately is inexcusable. I would have really loved it if the story had explained how the lab messed up the first test. (Or if they even actually ran the test or simply assumed it was drugs since the dogs sniffed it . . . just saying it came back positive figuring no one would double check.)

Since she was awarded nearly $1,000usd a day for the time she served in confinement, I suspect there was some gross negligence involved.

Sometimes I wonder if the authorities have totally stopped using any common sense?

The larger and more restrictive governments get the more difficult it is to fight such atrocities.

http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3969644

Woman freed in Australia after 'drugs' found to be iced tea

A Filipina wedding planner holidaying in Australia was released from detention Thursday after being wrongly held for five days on drugs charges following a mix-up involving iced tea powder.

Maria Cecilia Silva, 29, was arrested at Melbourne airport on Saturday after a sniffer dog alerted officials to packets of lemon flavored iced tea in her luggage.

Tests on the powder returned a positive result for amphetamines and Silva was charged with importing a commercial quantity of drugs.

But secondary tests revealed the initial result was wrong, and charges against her were withdrawn Thursday in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Silva was awarded 5,000 dollars (4,600 US dollars) compensation for her wrongful imprisonment.

"She's traumatized, she's lost a lot of weight and she'll be seeing a doctor," said her barrister, Michael Pena-Rees.

"She's a totally innocent young lady who has experienced five days in an horrendous situation having her liberty taken away and placed in cells with some serious offenders," he told the AAP newswire.

The court heard that an ingredient in the tea sachets, which Silva purchased in Manila for a friend, was commonly mistaken for drugs, according to state radio.