Aussie Customs mix-up: iced tea, not drugs

A Filipino tourist was cleared today of a drug charge after spending five days in custody due to a mix-up over packets of tea she brought into Australia.

Melbourne magistrate Jack Vandersteen ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions to pay $5000 ($NZ6300) to Maria Cecilia Silva, 29, for her ordeal.

Customs detected amphetamines in three 800g packets of lemon-flavoured iced tea brought in by Ms Silva at Melbourne airport on Saturday and handed her over to Australian Federal Police.

When her bags were searched at the airport a drug detection dog reacted to the iced tea containers and further testing of one of the containers came back with a positive result for amphetamine.

Ms Silva was released today after the prosecution withdrew a charge of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

Barrister Michael Penna-Rees said the packets of tea, which she had bought in a Philippines supermarket, had never been opened.

Mr Vandersteen took the unusual step of releasing Ms Silva inside the court instead of having her returned to the cells and released at the side entry of the courthouse.

Once freed, a crying Ms Silva clung to a female prison guard who led her through the court to a friend waiting to embrace her.

"She's traumatised, she's lost a lot of weight and she'll be seeing a doctor," Mr Penna-Rees told AAP.

"She's a wedding planner in the Philippines, her mother is a wedding singer and her father is a wedding musician - it's a family business.

"She's a totally innocent young lady who has experienced five days in an horrendous situation having her liberty taken away and placed in cells with some serious offenders."

Mr Penna-Rees said he understood that there have been similar previous problems with packets of iced tea.

- AAP