WESTERN BUREAU:
THERE IS some mystery surrounding the whereabouts of 29 packages of cocaine carried by a 42-year-old higgler of a Negril, Westmoreland address.
The higgler excreted the packages which went missing while she was under police guard at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.
Reports reaching Cornwall Edition are that just hours after the drugs had been expelled from the woman's body they were reported missing by the police officer who was assigned to guard her.
Cornwall Edition learned that the officer reported that he went to have lunch and upon his return, discovered the container was empty and raised an alarm.
Sources at the hospital have, however, told the Cornwall Edition that the nurses on duty reported that they did not see anyone in the area while the policeman was at lunch.
A high-ranking police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident.
He said, however, that the woman, who spent three nights at the hospital and one night in police custody, "cannot be charged as we have no evidence of the substance she was alleged to have passed out." He also blamed the officer who was guarding her for leaving his post unmanned.
The officer said the woman was taken from the Freeport police station to an undisclosed location where she was further interrogated but nothing else was learned. She was then released.
Another police officer also said that it was not possible to say what the excreted substance was, as the police did not get the chance to do any preliminary testing before it disappeared.
A medical doctor who was on duty when the woman was admitted also confirmed the story.
It is understood that the woman had undertaken to swallow 100 packets at a hotel on Leaders Avenue before boarding a flight to London a few days earlier but had complained of stomach pains after ingesting just 29 of the packages.
She was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where she was admitted and medication administered to help her expel the packages.
