MYSTERY surrounds the release of two female Venezuelan nationals from the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca on Monday.

The nationals -- Betty Velasquez and Wilerma Gill-Calderon were freed by the courts last December for possession of drugs but the State later appealed the matter.

Velasquez and Gill-Calderon had been in prison for more than a year awaiting trial.

They were held in Cedros.

Sources say that since an appeal is pending the two foreigners should not have been released.

TnT Mirror could not confirm whether the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Department withdrew the appeal.

Attorneys at the DPP office could not throw any light on the matter.

Head of the Immigration Investigation Department, Narinesingh Lall, confirmed that the two Venezuelans were released on Monday and left for their homeland on Wednesday.

Lall said he believes that there is an appeal pending but the Immigration Department had received instructions to release the women.

“There must have been good grounds regarding this decision to be taken,” he added.

“The circumstances of the case was probably the reason for the decision,” Lall said.

The senior officer could not say whether the appeal was withdrawn.

Venezuelan Ambassador Hector Azocar said the women were released because they had won their cases.

“There was a lack of evidence and the case was dismissed,” he said.

He denied that officials of the Venezuelan Embassy accompanied Immigration Officers to the Women’s Prison at Golden Grove to release the women.

Commissioner of Prisons, John Rougier, said he could not comment because he did not have any information on the matter.