Liberia: 'Ex-VP Howard Taylor Connected to U.S.$317m Drugs Case'

What the report says

Liberian media reported that Liberia’s police chief, Gregory O. W. Coleman, has linked former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor to the investigation surrounding the country’s reported US$317 million cocaine seizure. The case centers on an estimated 3,971 kilograms of cocaine said to have been found near the Roberts International Airport Highway in Duazon, Margibi County. The government has also said the $317 million matter is separate from another major drug case involving a reported $19 million seizure.

According to the reporting, Coleman said Howard-Taylor fits within the alleged trafficking network under investigation, rather than being treated only as a person of interest. He argued that the case involves a wider organization with local and political connections, and said investigators had enough evidence to move toward a grand jury indictment. Justice Minister and Attorney General Cllr. N. Oswald Tweh defended the decision to stop Howard-Taylor from leaving the country and bring her into custody, saying the matter had become a national-security investigation.

The article says Howard-Taylor was prevented from departing Roberts International Airport as she was preparing to travel to Accra, Ghana, for a women’s leadership forum. It also notes that she has not been convicted and remains presumed innocent. The case matters because it has drawn a former vice president into a high-profile anti-drug effort, raising questions about how deeply trafficking networks may have reached into Liberia’s political and security structures.