How Police Linked Liberian Ex-Vice President Howard-Taylor To $317Million Cocaine Case, Filed Charges
How Police Linked Liberian Ex-Vice President Howard-Taylor To $317Million Cocaine Case, Filed Charges
Howard-Taylor, 63, was detained on Wednesday at the Roberts International Airport in Monrovia while preparing to board a flight, according to Liberia’s Ministry of Justice.
Liberian authorities have charged former Vice-President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering and other offences following an investigation into an alleged transnational cocaine trafficking network linked to a seizure of narcotics valued at about $317million.
Howard-Taylor, 63, was detained on Wednesday at the Roberts International Airport in Monrovia while preparing to board a flight, according to Liberia’s Ministry of Justice.
The former vice-president has been linked by Liberian police to a major cocaine seizure made last month as authorities intensify a crackdown on an alleged international drug trafficking syndicate operating through the West African country.
Liberia’s police chief, Gregory Coleman, reportedly connected Howard-Taylor to the investigation surrounding the seizure.
She has not publicly commented on the allegations.
Her lawyer also declined to comment, telling the BBC that he could not speak on the matter until Howard-Taylor was formally charged in court.
The former vice-president is facing several charges, including the unlicensed importation, sale and transportation of controlled drugs, illicit trafficking, criminal solicitation and criminal facilitation.
Authorities are also investigating allegations of money laundering as part of the broader case.
The charges follow a series of major cocaine seizures in Liberia as the government attempts to dismantle what it describes as a sophisticated transnational trafficking network.
Liberian authorities said their investigation is not limited to individuals allegedly involved in physically transporting narcotics but is also targeting financiers, organisers and people suspected of providing protection to the trafficking operation.
Three foreign nationals — two Croatians and a Ukrainian — have also been charged in absentia in connection with the investigation.
They are accused of belonging to the same alleged trafficking network being investigated by Liberian authorities.
Liberian Justice Minister Oswald Tweh said the government would use both domestic and international mechanisms to locate and arrest the suspects.
The government has vowed that the investigation will continue regardless of the political status or connections of those implicated.
“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 Liberian government said in a statement as quoted by BBC.
The investigation intensified following two major cocaine seizures in June and July.
In July, Liberian authorities said they seized almost four tonnes of cocaine believed to have been destined for Europe.
The seizure was described by the government as the largest drug bust in Liberia’s history and was said to have exposed the scale and sophistication of an alleged international trafficking network.
The investigation has subsequently widened to include senior figures within Liberia’s security establishment.
Authorities say they are seeking to establish how the alleged network operated, who financed the shipments and whether individuals within state institutions assisted or protected the operation.
Howard-Taylor’s alleged connection to the case has therefore brought the investigation into the country’s political establishment.
Howard-Taylor entered national politics following the departure from power of her former husband, Charles Taylor, who served as Liberia’s president from 1997 to 2003.
Charles Taylor, a former rebel leader, was later arrested and convicted by a United Nations-backed tribunal for aiding and abetting rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the country’s 1991–2002 civil war.
The conflict left an estimated 50,000 people dead.
Years later, Howard-Taylor returned to the political centre of Liberia and was selected by former football star George Weah as his running mate in the 2017 presidential election.
After Weah won, Howard-Taylor served as Liberia’s vice-president from 2018 until 2024.
Her detention now places one of Liberia’s most prominent political figures at the centre of a major criminal investigation.
The allegations against her remain subject to judicial determination, and she has not publicly responded to the charges.
Liberia’s crackdown comes amid growing concern over the use of West Africa as a transit corridor for cocaine trafficked from South America to European markets.
Drug trafficking networks have exploited the region’s porous borders, extensive coastline and enforcement challenges to move narcotics through West African countries before onward shipment to Europe.
The Liberian government has said the latest investigation is intended to expose the entire chain behind the trafficking operation rather than merely arrest couriers.
With Howard-Taylor now facing charges and three foreign nationals charged in absentia, investigators are expected to continue tracing the alleged network’s financiers, organisers and facilitators.
Authorities have yet to announce when Howard-Taylor will be formally presented before a court or disclose the specific evidence they intend to rely on against her.
