Ex-Vice President Howard-Taylor Charged in Drug Probe

Jewel Howard-Taylor faces serious charges including drug trafficking and money laundering amid ongoing investigations into a narcotics network in Liberia.

Liberia has launched an investigation into former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor, charging her with drug trafficking, money laundering, and several other serious offenses. This comes as part of a broader investigation into a transnational drug network operating within the country.

Howard-Taylor was detained on Wednesday as she attempted to board a flight at Roberts International Airport in Monrovia, confirmed the country’s justice ministry. Police Chief Gregory Coleman has specifically linked her to the seizure of cocaine last month, which was valued at $317 million (£233 million).

The 63-year-old politician has not yet publicly addressed these allegations. Her lawyer stated that he could not provide any commentary until Howard-Taylor has been formally charged in court.

After her ex-husband, former President Charles Taylor, left power, Howard-Taylor stepped into the political arena. Charles Taylor, who was once a rebel leader, served as Liberia’s president from 1997 until 2003, only to be arrested later and convicted by a UN-backed court for aiding rebels during the Sierra Leone civil war that lasted from 1991 to 2002, resulting in over 50,000 deaths.

After her political career was initiated, Howard-Taylor served as deputy under current President George Weah from 2018 until 2024. She now faces charges including unlicensed importation, sale, and transport of controlled drugs, illicit trafficking, criminal solicitation, and criminal facilitation.

Additionally, the authorities have charged three foreign nationals—two from Croatia and one from Ukraine—in absentia, accusing them of being part of the same drug trafficking network as the former vice president.

The Liberian Justice Minister, Oswald Tweh, indicated that international and domestic measures will be employed to locate and arrest these individuals. Liberia has ramped up its crackdown on cocaine trafficking, especially following two significant drug seizures in June and July.

This past July, authorities conducted a major raid resulting in the seizure of nearly four tonnes of cocaine, believed to be destined for Europe. This was characterized as Liberia’s largest drug bust and revealed a complex transnational cocaine trafficking network.

The ongoing investigation has now expanded to focus on senior officials in Liberia’s security establishment. Authorities have declared their intention to identify not only those involved in the logistics of drug transport but also financiers and organizers. “No office is too high, no political connection is too powerful, no nationality provides immunity, and no individual is beyond the reach of the law,” the government stated emphatically.

West Africa has increasingly become a critical transit point for cocaine shipments from South America to Europe, with traffickers taking advantage of weak enforcement and porous borders in the region.