Source: Africa Publicity
Liberian authorities have charged former Vice-President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering and several other offences as part of an investigation into an alleged transnational cocaine trafficking network.
Howard-Taylor, 63, was detained on Wednesday at Roberts International Airport near Monrovia as she was preparing to board a flight, according to Liberia’s Ministry of Justice.
Liberia’s police chief, Gregory Coleman, has linked the former vice-president to the seizure last month of cocaine with an estimated street value of $317 million.
She faces charges including the unlicensed importation, sale and transportation of controlled drugs, illicit trafficking, criminal solicitation, criminal facilitation and money laundering.
Howard-Taylor has not publicly commented on the allegations. Her lawyer told the BBC that he could not comment until she was formally charged in court.
The former vice-president entered politics after her then-husband, former Liberian President Charles Taylor, left office.
Charles Taylor, a former rebel leader, became president in 1997 and remained in power until 2003.
He was later convicted by a UN-backed tribunal of aiding and abetting rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during that country’s 1991–2002 civil war, a conflict in which about 50,000 people were killed.
Years later, George Weah selected Jewel Howard-Taylor as his running mate. She served as Liberia’s vice-president from 2018 until 2024.
Foreign Nationals Also Implicated
Liberian authorities have also charged three foreign nationals — two Croatians and a Ukrainian — in absentia over their alleged involvement in the same trafficking network.
Justice Minister Oswald Tweh said the government would use both domestic and international mechanisms to locate and arrest the suspects.
The investigation follows a series of major cocaine seizures as Liberia intensifies its campaign against international drug trafficking.
Almost four tonnes of cocaine believed to have been destined for Europe were seized during a major operation in July.
Authorities described the operation as Liberia’s largest drug bust and said it exposed a sophisticated transnational trafficking network.
The investigation has since expanded to include senior figures within Liberia’s security establishment.
Authorities say they are seeking to identify not only individuals directly involved in transporting the drugs, but also alleged financiers, organisers and those accused of providing protection to the operation.
In a statement, the government stressed that its crackdown would extend to individuals regardless of their political influence or position.
“No office is too high, no political connection is too powerful, no nationality provides immunity, and no individual is beyond the reach of the law,” the government said.
West Africa has increasingly become a major transit corridor for cocaine trafficked from South America to Europe, with criminal networks taking advantage of porous borders and enforcement challenges in parts of the region.
