Pinoy seaman in shoe-soles cocaine case appears in court

By Vir B. Lumicao

Cocaine shaped as shoe soles

A drug trafficking case against a Filipino seafarer and his two Colombians contacts who allegedly smuggled into Hong Kong in June nearly 2 kilos of high-grade cocaine molded like shoe soles, will be turned over to the High Court, a Kowloon City magistrate said.                                                                                          Carlito Platon and his two co-defendants – Cristhian Enrique Posso and Jose William Uribe – were told on Oct 26 that their case will be moved to the High Court after laboratory tests showed the cocaine seized from them weighed 1.98 kilograms.

The prosecution dropped three charges of obstructing a customs officer against the defendants but amended the trafficking charge to increase the amount of cocaine involved from 1.33 kilos.

The suspects appeared in Kwun Tong court on Oct 26

Magistrate Peter Law set the next hearing of the case on Dec 4 in Eastern Court, where he said the suspects might be asked to make a plea, after which they will either stand trial or be sentenced at the High Court.

The magistrate told the defendants they could apply for legal aid for the High Court hearing.

Posso, through the defense lawyer, again applied for bail of $10,000, but Law denied the application, saying drug trafficking was a serious case, and that the defendant had no local ties.

Platon, 48, has not applied for bail since his arrest along with the two Colombians on Nathan Road in Yaumatei on June 2. Posso and Uribe both applied for bail in the previous hearing on Sept 28, but their requests were rejected.

The Filipino, a crew of a cargo vessel that had just docked at Kwai Chung, got off and met with the two unemployed Colombians allegedly to deliver two pairs of shoe soles, when Customs and police officers pounced on them. The cocaine was camouflaged as shoe soles.