The Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency has busted Cocaine valued at about US$1 Million at the Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia.
By Emmanuel Wise Jipoh
Monrovia, Liberia, September 16, 2024 –The Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) seizes cocaine worth Nine Hundred Fifteen Thousand, Seven-hundred Fifty United States Dollars (US$915,750.00) at the Roberts International Airport.
Delivering his 100-Day report, the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the LDEA, Christopher Peters, revealed that the high-grade cocaine was being secretly smuggled out of Liberia on Wednesday, 11 September, but was arrested through the assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNDOC) along with LDEA agents assigned at the RIA.
According to Mr. Peters, the substance weighing 16.65 kilograms and valued at one Hundred Seventy-Five million eight hundred twenty-thousand Liberian dollars was being smuggled out of the country.
He said no arrests have been made thus far as the LDEA investigates the situation to apprehend suspects.
Mr. Peters dismisses rumors that the LDEA had arrested the substance through the intervention of suspended LDEA Boss Col. Abraham Kromah.
“AB has no link; neither did he made efforts nor provided intelligence to the recent arrest, as it has been speculated in the public”, Peters indicated.
He discloses that the substances were confiscated in a blue suitcase at around 04:45 hrs, following a tipoff from a partner and LDEA agents assigned to the Roberts International Airport.
“With the assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNDOC) Liberia, the LDEA tested the seized substance, and the result confirmed that the substance is a High-Grade Cocaine, which weighed 16.65kilograms with a street value of US$915,750.00 or Liberian Dollar equivalent of 175,824.00 Million. No suspect has been arrested, as the suitcase, although identified within one of the RIA parking lots, was unaccompanied. Investigations into identifying the suspects regarding this seizure continue,” Acting Director Peters says.
The LDEA Boss continues that the seizure of the US$915,750.00 drugs brings together the total number of three million-four hundred and twenty-eight thousand eight hundred and forty-eight United States Dollars, sixty-five cents (US$3,428,848.65) seized by the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency in his first hundred days in office.
Drugs arrested under his reign is from June to August 2024, which is also equivalent to (LD688,504,324.84) Six Hundred Eighty-eight Million, Five Hundred Four thousand, Three Hundred Twenty-four Liberian Dollars, Eight-four cents.
Providing further details of operations conducted in the last 100 days by the LDEA, he reports, “Over the last hundred days, we have been able to lead with the support of our colleagues to achieve a lot for the Agency and the country. In June, we seized drugs and substances in the amount of US$255,388.50 and LD$49,034,592.00. In July, the value of the seizure made was put at US$1,362,025.15m and LD$291.6million, while in August 2024, we seized drugs and substances with street value put at US$895,685 and LD$171,971,534m.”
Meanwhile, this is the second time that such huge narcotics have been arrested at the Roberts International Airport.
In September 2023, through the customs office of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), drugs arrested were reportedly linked to former President George Weah’s Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Nora Finda Bondo, who later denied her involvement. Editing by Jonathan Browne
