By Ayodele Oni
Liberian authorities have vowed to prosecute a former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering and other offences, following her arrest while attempting to leave the country at Roberts International Airport.
Reuters reports that the arrest is part of an investigation of a transnational narcotics network, currently being undertaken by the country.
The West African nation’s attorney general said in a statement declared “There will be no selective justice, political protection, sacred cows or compromise with organized criminality.
“Every person against whom credible and admissible evidence is established will be investigated and prosecuted without fear, favor or political consideration.”
According to Reuters, the arrest of Howard-Taylor, ex-wife of convicted war criminal Charles Taylor, comes less than a month after Liberian authorities announced that they had seized around $317 million worth of cocaine that was bound for Europe, highlighting the country’s growing role in the global drug trade.
Howard-Taylor has already been taken to national police headquarters, according to the statement.
The charges against her also include unlicensed importation of a controlled substance, criminal solicitation and criminal conspiracy, the statement said.
Howard-Taylor’s lawyer, Kabineh M. Ja’neh, told Reuters that he had met with his client earlier and authorities informed him that they intended to charge her, though he had not seen the indictment.
“She is in the custody of the Liberia National Police tonight. She will sleep there.
“We would be able to proceed with the matter once we get the formal charge.”
Authorities have also charged in absentia three alleged members of the network — two Croatian nationals and a Ukrainian national — and the statement said that the government would seek their arrest through domestic and international legal channels.
Howard-Taylor served as vice president under former President George Weah from January 2018 to January 2024.
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