Jurors dismiss £2m drugs trial and take defendants out for a drink
One of Birmingham’s largest criminal law firms has criticised the Crown Prosecution Service after a case lasting nearly a year and costing £2 million was dismissed by the jury in less than two hours.
Jurors were so relieved to see the end of the gruelling trial that they took the lawyers and their clients out for a drink at the pub after the case finished.
Purcell Parker, based on Corporation Street, acted for two Albanian men accused of running a cocaine-smuggling ring.
But after a long case – and 18 months behind bars – the accused were acquitted by jurors after a short deliberation.
A spokesman for the Birmingham law firm said it was “outrageous” that so much publicly-funded time and effort had been put into a case that was dismissed so quickly.
It added the case had been the longest and most complex it had seen at the court.
Purcell Parker’s clients – Oltjon Nezha and Elmand Koshaj – were two of nine men accused of being part of an international drugs-smuggling ring.
The CPS accused the defendants of conspiring to import cocaine from Europe.
Upon its arrival into the UK it was allegedly processed in Oxford and sold throughout the country.
Thames Valley police observed the defendants for more than a year, using “hi-tech” bugging and tracking equipment.
