The case against a Scottish aristocrat accused of smuggling drugs into Kenya is set to be dropped this week.
According to a report in a Sunday newspaper, Kenya's anti-drugs unit has urged the country's directorate of public prosecution to drop the case against Jack Marrian, grandson of the 6th Earl of Cawdor and nephew of the current Earl.
Mr Marrian, 31,was due to be tried after 200lb of cocaine was found hidden in a shipped consignment of sugar destined for his trading company in Kenya.
The letter from the Kenyan police asks the court to drop the case on Wednesday this week.
The drugs, worth £4.5m, were discovered by police in Mombasa in July.
It originated in Brazil, where agents from the US Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) believe that criminals hid the drugs in a container without the knowledge of Mr Marrian or his company.
Spanish, US and British anti-drugs trafficking agents tracked the container, which headed for Valencia before continuing to Africa.
Earlier this year, a former DEA agent, Anthony Coulson, who was in Nairobi at the time of the drugs raid in Mombasa, said that agents had evidence that could exonerate Mr Marrian.
Mr Marrian's home in Nairobi was raided on July 31.
He was kept in jail for weeks until his release on £500,000 bail.
Mr Marrian has previously said he had never had dealings with police before, "not even a speeding ticket."
He reacted to the news of the potentially dropped case with "joy" he said.
"This is the first positive news I've heard during my whole ordeal," he told the Mail on Sunday.
"It fills me with joy to think of sharing with my family in the lead up to Christmas. If this injustice had continued, I stood to lose my freedom for the rest of my life and my family would have been destroyed."
Mr Marrian's lawyer said the DPP's office had confirmed the letter requesting the withdrawal of charges against his client.
It is reported that nearly 100 kilos of cocaine were loaded on to a ship in Santos, Brazil, by a South American crime gang, was meant to be unloaded in Valencia, Spain.
However, the cocaine was not removed and it sailed on to Kenya in a container ordered by Mr Marrian's company, Mshale Commodities.
The drugs were then seized by police in Mombasa.
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