By: Emmanuel Wise Jipoh
Liberian authorities have burnt cocaine valued at US$100,000,000 (One Hundred Million United States Dollars) confiscated here early this week while being transited to an unknown destination.
The drugs that had an equivalent value of 15 billion Liberian Dollars were destroyed Wednesday, October 5, 2022, at the Barclay Training Center (military barracks) in Monrovia by the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) in collaboration with the National Security Agency (NSA).
According to the LDEA, total quantity of drugs arrested was 520kgs, but 518kgs were destroyed, while 2kgs are being kept as Fruits of the Crime (FOC) for would-be perpetrators.
The exercise was observed by representatives from the Embassy of the United States near Monrovia, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), journalists and heavily-armed soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) who monitored every step of the destruction process and remained on site until every ounce of the drugs burnt to ashes.
On Sunday, 1st October authorities of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Security Agency stormed the ground of the SONIT Liberia Inc. compound in Topoe Village, along the Japan Freeway, after a tipoff from the United States Government and arrested the huge quantity of raw Cocaine concealed among frozen goods owned by SONIT Inc.
According to the LDEA, the drugs were transiting from North America (Brazil) enroute to i’s final unnamed destination, before it was seized.
LDEA spokesperson Marcus Geeplay said the quantity of drugs destroyed is the biggest in the history of Liberia, which speaks volumes that the country is a no-go zone for drug traffickers.
Liberia’s Justice Minister Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, who also witnessed the exercise, warned that the West African nation will not be used as a safe haven for traffickers.
He disclosed that suspects arrested are being thoroughly investigated, while
Hailing the United States Government, and all those that aided the Liberian authorities in the catch.
Liberian law enforcement authorities have arrested two suspects, including Malam Conte, a 31 – year – old Guinea Bissau national, and Issam Makki, a Lebanese national said to be residing in Liberia, who was on the run to neighboring Sierra Leone when he was picked up by state security.
Authorities here are said to be pursuing others linked to what has been described as the biggest single drug syndicate busted in the country’s history. Editing by Jonathan Browne
