The court has found probable cause for a Chinese woman to go on trial for possession of drugs.
The woman, who was returning from Apia, was allegedly found with two bottle of pills hidden among underwear in her suitcase.
Wen Ting Chen, charged with possession of a controlled substance made her initial appearance in District Court Wednesday with private attorney Sharron Rancourt and a Chinese interpreter.
At a preliminary examination yesterday the government’s sole witness was Det. John Seumanutafa of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Department of Public Safety.
The detective told the court a customs agent contacted him about two bottles of pills found in Ms. Chen’s suitcase upon arrival at Pago Pago International Airport on July 10th
The bottles, according to Detective Seumanutafa, had no names nor a doctor’s prescription.
However, the defendant told him she ordered them online for weight loss purposes.
The pills were taken to the LBJ Hospital lab for testing which showed that the pills were a mixture of PCP or Phencyclidine (angel dust) and another controlled substance which is illegal under drug laws in American Samoa .
During cross examination, defense attorney Rancourt questioned Detective Seumanutafa about the test used to determine the existence of illegal substances in the pills.
The detective said he didn’t know.
Rancourt didn’t feel that there was basis for the charge against her client given the lack of information about the lab tests.
However the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Christie Dunn said the law states that any amount of controlled substance is illegal in American Samoa.
She also raised that if the drugs were for legitimate reasons, why would the defendant hide them underneath her underwear.
The court found probable cause that a crime was committed and bound Chen’s case over to High Court where she will be arraigned this morning.
