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MELBOURNE, Australia?(UPDATE) 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.
Melbourne Judge Jack Vandersteen ordered the director of public prosecutions to pay (AUS) $5,000 ($4,600) to Maria Cecilia Silva, 29, for her ordeal.
When Silva arrived in Melbourne airport from the Philippines on Saturday, drug-detection dogs reacted to ice tea packets in her luggage.
Tests on the powder returned a positive result for amphetamines and Silva was charged with importing a commercial quantity of drugs. Silva was handed over to the Australian Federal Police.
Follow-up tests, however, were negative, and prosecutors withdrew the charge of importing drugs.
A tearful Silva clung to a female prison guard as she was led through the court to a waiting friend.
?She?s a totally innocent young lady who has experienced five days in a horrendous situation having her liberty taken away and placed in cells with some serious offenders,? said her lawyer, Michael Penna-Rees.
?She?s traumatized, she?s lost a lot of weight and she?ll be seeing a doctor.?
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. With Agence France-Presse
