Colombian Suspect In Luggage Case Charged In Court And Pleads Not Guilty

Andres Leonardo Gamboa Duran, a 43-year-old from Cucuta, Colombia, has been charged in connection with the Gżira luggage case and is pleading not guilty.

Although Duran hasn’t been charged with the murder of the man whose body was found inside the luggage in Gżira, he has been charged with aggravated drug possession and trafficking, profiting from illicit proceeds, money laundering, tampering with criminal evidence and trying to hide a body.

He was charged in front of Magistrate Marse Ann Farrugia today and pleaded not guilty.

As the court case kicked off today, police inspector Wayne Camilleri testified that two minors had initially spotted the suitcase while they were on a paddle boat and hauled it back to shore. They informed two adults, who opened the suitcase and found a dismembered body.

The man was completely naked save for an adult diaper, and his hands and feet had been cut off and stuffed into plastic bags. An autopsy found that he had 101 cocaine capsules in his stomach, leading to suspicion that he might have been a drug mule.