Liberia: Ex-LDEA Airport Deputy Rearrested in U.S.$19.2m Cocaine Case

What the report says

Liberia’s former deputy commander at Roberts International Airport’s anti-drug agency, Moses Jallah, has been rearrested in connection with the country’s US$19.2 million cocaine case, according to The Liberian Investigator as distributed by AllAfrica. The report says authorities detained him again on Aug. 10 after receiving information that he was trying to leave the country from the same airport terminal where the suspected cocaine was originally seized.

Jallah had already been charged by the Ministry of Justice’s Special Investigation Team with obstructing law enforcement, interfering with a government function and tampering with a criminal investigation. Prosecutors have not accused him of trafficking cocaine, but investigators say his conduct became part of the broader inquiry after the airport seizure of 237.6 kilograms of suspected cocaine, which authorities say was hidden in cargo declared as general merchandise and bound for England.

The article says investigators are weighing whether amended charges could expand Jallah’s alleged role from interference to aiding the shipment, though no new filing has been made. It also identifies businessman George Harris, also known as Leroy Harris, as a figure who allegedly sought help from officials to release the cargo. Jallah, for his part, reportedly denied wrongdoing and said he had passed information and bribery approaches to his superiors. He has not been convicted. The case remains significant because it involves one of Liberia’s largest reported narcotics seizures and raises questions about airport security and internal oversight.