Liberia has charged former Vice-President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering and other offences in an investigation into an alleged transnational narcotics network.
Howard-Taylor, 63, was detained on Wednesday at Roberts International Airport in Monrovia while attempting to board a flight, the Justice Ministry confirmed.
Police Chief Gregory Coleman linked her to the seizure last month of cocaine valued at $317m (£233m). She has not publicly commented on the allegations, while her lawyer told Newsmen he could not comment until she was formally charged in court.
Howard-Taylor entered politics after her former husband, ex-President Charles Taylor, left office. Charles Taylor, a former rebel leader, served as president from 1997 to 2003 before being convicted by a UN-backed court of aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war.
In 2017, George Weah chose Howard-Taylor as his running mate, and she served as vice-president from 2018 to 2024.
She faces charges including the unlicensed importation, sale and transportation of controlled drugs, illicit trafficking, criminal solicitation and criminal facilitation.
Three foreign nationals, two Croatians and one Ukrainian, have also been charged in absentia over alleged links to the same network. Justice Minister Oswald Tweh said authorities would use domestic and international measures to locate and arrest them.
Liberia intensified its anti-dr¥g crackdown after two major cocaine seizures in June and July. Almost four tonnes of cocaine believed to be destined for Europe were seized in July, in what authorities described as the country’s biggest drug bust.
The investigation has since expanded to senior security figures as authorities seek to identify alleged traffickers, financiers, organisers and those accused of protecting the operation.
“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.