Liberia: Police Say Their Own Officers Escorted the Cocaine, Charge Two Commanders

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying reporting from The Liberian Investigator, reported that Liberia’s police chief says two senior police commanders have been charged and sent to court over alleged involvement in escorting the country’s largest cocaine shipment from its coastal landing point to a storage site. Inspector General Gregory Coleman named the chief of highway patrol, Wadell Quaboe, and the chief of major crimes, Anthony Blaye, saying they were detained at police headquarters before being turned over for prosecution on Thursday.

Coleman told a Ministry of Information briefing that police vehicles were used as escorts in front of and behind the consignment, and said a Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency deputy commander at Roberts International Airport had also been identified as a significant figure in the inquiry. He said investigators believe the shipment could not have entered Liberia without protection from officials, and alleged that the operation involved state actors at senior levels in a previous government, though he did not name those people or provide documents at the briefing.

According to the report, Coleman described the seizure as the result of a surveillance operation lasting more than a year and involving the National Security Agency, Executive Protection Service and police, with a takedown authorized by the National Security Council. He said U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration personnel are now in Liberia assisting, while officials have also sought cooperation from Morocco, Rwanda and the Netherlands.

Justice Minister and Attorney General Oswald Tweh said the investigation would be evidence-based and that no one would be exempt if evidence led to them. Coleman said $7,000 was recovered with the drugs, far below figures circulating publicly, and said the narcotics were being moved for court-ordered destruction with samples preserved as evidence.