SUVA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- A Colombian national has been sentenced to 13 years and 11 months imprisonment by the Hight Court in Fiji for unlawfully importing 20.5 kg of cocaine into the island nation in 2014.
Aiden Alec Hurtado, 27, was sentenced by Judge Justice Thusara Rajasinghe at the Suva High court on Tuesday after he had been remanded in custody since February 2014.
The judge said Hurtado didn't have any respect for the law when he entered Fiji three years ago pretending to be a tourist.
The cocaine was a significantly large amount and it seemed it was imported for commercial purposes and not for the Fijian market.
The evidence in this hearing revealed a dark truth that Fiji was no longer safe from the venomous attention of transnational illicit drug traffickers and syndicates and locally operated agents and facilitators of them, said the judge.
Hurtadi is eligible for parole after serving 11 years and 11 months behind bars.
He was acquitted in 2015, however, an appeal was filed by the state before a re-trial began in June.
