போதை மருந்து கடத்திய சவுதி இளவரசர் நண்பர்கள் விடுதலை

சவுதி இளவரசரின் நண்பர்கள் அவரது விமானத்தில் கொக்கெய்ன் போதைமருந்து 2 டன் கடத்தினர். வெனிசுவெலாவிலிருந்து பாரிஸுக்கு கடத்தப்பட்ட இந்த போதைமருந்தை மியாமியில் பிடித்தனர்.

இது மியாமியில் பிடிக்கபப்ட்டாலும், இந்த போதைமருந்து அமெரிக்காவில் விற்கப்படுவதற்காக கடத்தப்படவில்லை என்ற காரணத்தை வைத்து இந்த சவுதி இளவரசர், அவரது நண்பர்களை குற்றமற்றவர்களாக கருதவேண்டும் என்று சவுதி இளவரசரின் வழக்குறைஞர்கள் வாதாடினர்

ஒப்புக்கொண்ட நீதிபதிகள் இவர்களை விடுதலை செய்தனர்.

U.S. Appeals Court overturns ruling in Saudi prince drug case
The Associated PressPublished: July 27, 2007

MIAMI: A Saudi prince's ex-girlfriend and a Colombian man who were convicted of using the prince's Boeing 727 to transport cocaine have asked to be released from jail after an appeals court dismissed the case against them.

Doris Mangeri Salazar and Ivan Lopez Vanegas had both been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for helping to broker the transport of two tons of cocaine from Venezuela to Paris. But a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the drug conspiracy statutes they were charged with did not apply.

That is because the cocaine was not transported through the United States and not intended for distribution in the country, the three-judge panel ruled unanimously. The government had argued during the pair's trial that because conspirators held meetings in Miami they could be tried in Florida.

"This was a courageous panel of judges that did the right thing and interpreted the law as it was meant to be," Salazar's attorney Scott Srebnick said.

Srebnick said that while the court ruled on whether the statutes applied to his client, he maintains the former Florida real estate agent is "100 percent factually innocent."

Attorneys asked that Salazar and Vanegas be released on bail while prosecutors decide whether to pursue the case.

U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta was reviewing the 16-page decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta but had not yet decided how to respond. He has two weeks to make that decision. One option would be to ask the full court to review the decision of the three-judge panel.

Salazar and Lopez were convicted in 2005 of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and ordered to pay $25,000 (€18,314) in fines.

Lopez was said to have suggested approaching prince Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz al-Shaalan about using his plane to smuggle cocaine. The plane was outfitted with extra tanks for long flights and the prince could travel under diplomatic immunity, avoiding most customs inspections.

After the 2-ton shipment, valued at $30 million (€21.98 million), arrived in Paris in 1999 it was sold to buyers in Italy and Spain before a ton was seized by French and Spanish authorities.

Lopez became a middle man between several Colombian drug lords and the prince, according to trial testimony. Salazar had been al-Shaalan's girlfriend at the University of Miami. Al-Shaalan, a Swiss banker, later married into the royal Saudi family, and Salazar was said to have helped arrange a transaction between Colombian drug traffickers and the prince.