State charges dismissed in record cocaine seizure case

The state has decided not to prosecute two Providence men charged in July 2016 after state police said they seized a record 29 kilograms of cocaine during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Groton.

In the past two weeks, New London Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein dismissed narcotics and traffic-related charges that had been brought against Amulfo Hiciano, 34, and Giovanni Carmona, 32, for allegedly transporting the cocaine from New York City to Rhode Island.

The judge dismissed the charges at the request of the men’s lawyers, Tara Knight and Hugh Keefe, after prosecutor Paul J. Narducci announced he would not be prosecuting the case.

It is unclear whether Hiciano and Carmona will be prosecuted in another jurisdiction. Narducci referred questions to a federal prosecutor, who did not return two phone messages. Knight and Keefe could not immediately be reached for comment.

Both men had been free on bond and under house arrest while their cases were pending.

On July 13, 2016, state police said they pulled over the men, who were driving separate vehicles, for weaving in and out of traffic between Exits 88 and 89 of I-95 north in Groton.

The troopers alleged that Carmona, who was driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck, was acting as a “spotter” for Hiciano, who was carrying 29 individually wrapped packages of cocaine — with an estimated street value of nearly $3 million — in the trunk of the Nissan Maxima he was driving.

Authorities said it was the largest seizure of cocaine in recent memory. The men were charged with failure to maintain the established lane, possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to sell.

Hiciano told state police Carmona had asked him to follow him to New York to pick something up and drive it back to Rhode Island. He said he agreed to do it in exchange for a few hundred dollars because he had just lost his job.

In addition to the cocaine seized from Hiciano’s vehicle, the troopers said they seized $5,742 in cash and two cellphones from Carmona that he said belonged to his fatherin-law, whom he said he had just dropped off at the airport because he was going “on a permanent vacation to Colombia.”

Both men had surrendered their U.S. passports as a condition of posting bond. Their passports, now expired, have since been returned.