Liberia: Latest Cocaine Bust Valued At Over U.S.$300m, Weighs Nearly 4 Tonnes

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a report by The Liberian Investigator, says Liberian security forces have confiscated nearly four metric tonnes of suspected cocaine during a raid on a warehouse in the VOA Community of Paynesville, near Monrovia. The report, dated July 22, 2026, says the joint security operation was conducted under a court-authorized search-and-seizure warrant and recovered 3,971 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated value of about US$318 million.

Two foreign men were arrested at the scene and were reportedly found with a firearm. The Liberian Investigator identified them as Johann David Garces Grajales, said to carry Colombian and Spanish passports, and Srdan Seles, described as Serbian. The outlet reported that investigators are still trying to verify whether those identities are genuine and are also seeking to determine who owns the warehouse and how the shipment entered Liberia.

The reported seizure would be far larger than a June 8 cocaine interception at Roberts International Airport, where authorities found 237.6 kilograms in cargo boxes allegedly misdeclared as consumer goods and bound for Europe. Prosecutors in that earlier case charged five people, including a logistics executive, an airport security intelligence official, an alleged consignee, and others; several were charged in absentia.

The development matters because Liberian officials and lawmakers have been under pressure over suspected use of the country as a transit point on cocaine routes to Europe. The report also recalls Liberia’s 2022 Freeport cocaine case, in which defendants were acquitted, a background point that has heightened scrutiny of whether large seizures lead to successful prosecutions.