Accused of involvement in local methamphetamine trafficking, a tourist guide was acquitted on the benefit of the doubt yesterday following his trial in Anosy. A trial concerning local drug trafficking was held yesterday before the ordinary criminal court in room 5 of the Anosy courthouse. Two defendants appeared before the bench. The first, a family man and tourist guide residing in Anosibe, was acquitted on the benefit of the doubt. His co-defendant, a water carrier in the same neighborhood, was sentenced to one year in prison. Incarcerated since June 14, 2025, he has already served his sentence, according to the presiding judge. His preventive detention was deducted from the sentence imposed. According to the indictment, police seized a small quantity of "rôrô," presented as a heroin derivative, as well as methamphetamine and other narcotic substances. These products were found in the possession of the water carrier, suspected of serving as a deliverer. Law enforcement also searched the tourist guide's home, where drugs were discovered in a refrigerator and in the garage. "I deny the accusation. I was driving tourists to Mahajanga. I was entrusted with a package whose contents I did not know and which I forgot. My sister is responsible for it. Indeed, our house was searched. My family and I live on the ground floor, my sister upstairs. The drugs were found at her place, not mine. The other part was in the garage, in the trunk of her motorcycle and not in mine. I was in Moramanga when the police summoned me. I presented myself voluntarily at the office," he explained. On the Run His wife, present in the courtroom, was called by the judge to confirm his statements. When questioned by the magistrate, the tourist guide stated he did not know where his sister was. She had escaped arrest and remains at large, according to the prosecutor general. According to the prosecution, this woman regularly tasked the second defendant with delivering drugs. However, the latter contested the facts, claiming he did not know the nature of the package she asked him to deliver. He allegedly received 2,000 ariary for this delivery. The lawyers for both defendants pleaded for the acquittal of the tourist guide and a minimal sentence for the water carrier, while the prosecutor general requested strict application of the law. The woman presented as the owner of the drugs, still missing, was found guilty and sentenced in absentia to three years in prison.