Ex-Liberian vice president charged with drug trafficking

The charges against Jewel Howard-Taylor, two Croatian nationals, and a Ukrainian follow an investigation into an alleged narcotics network, the Justice Ministry has said

Former Liberian Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor has been charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, and other offenses as part of an investigation into an alleged transnational narcotics network, the authorities have said.

The West African nation’s Ministry of Justice announced the move on Wednesday, saying Howard-Taylor was prevented from leaving Liberia through Roberts International Airport and taken to the national police headquarters.

Following a review of evidence gathered by a joint national security team, she was charged with illicit drug trafficking, unlicensed importation and distribution of controlled substances, criminal solicitation, facilitation and conspiracy, as well as money laundering, the ministry said.

“No office is too high, no political connection is too powerful, no nationality provides immunity,” Attorney General Oswald Tweh said.

The government also charged two Croatian citizens, Nikolai Ivancic and Mihovil Vrovac, and Ukrainian national Tara Zaderieko in absentia for allegedly helping organize the network. The authorities said they would seek their arrest through domestic and international channels.

Howard-Taylor’s lawyer, Kabineh Ja’neh, told Reuters he had met his client but had yet to see the formal indictment. “We would be able to proceed with the matter once we get the formal charge,” he said.

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The government has stressed that the allegations do not constitute “a judgment of guilt” and that “all defendants remain presumed innocent.”

Howard-Taylor served as vice president under former leader George Weah from 2018 to 2024. She was previously married to former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is serving a 50-year sentence for aiding war crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war.

The case comes less than a month after the authorities announced Liberia’s largest-ever drug seizure. Approximately 4.2 metric tons of cocaine valued at $336 million were destroyed in July, while several senior police officers were implicated in the operation.

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Another 237 kg of cocaine, valued at more than $19 million, was seized in June. West Africa has become an increasingly important transit corridor for cocaine moving from South America to Europe.

The Liberian Ministry of Justice has said the country “will not be surrendered to drug traffickers or those who enable them.” It vowed to uproot trafficking networks, sever their financial and institutional support, and pursue their members “wherever they may be found.”