(Jewel Howard-Taylor. Photo by Arise News)
Liberia has filed charges against Jewel Howard-Taylor, the country’s former vice-president, accusing her of dr¥g tr+fficking, money laundering, and related crimes.
She was arrested on Wednesday at the airport in Monrovia as she tried to leave the country.
The police chief has connected her to the seizure of c@caine worth $317 million that happened last month.
Howard-Taylor, 63, has not made any public statement about the charges.
Her lawyer said he could not speak to the media until she was officially presented in court.
Before entering politics, Howard-Taylor was married to Charles Taylor, a former president of Liberia.
Taylor ruled from 1997 to 2003 and was later convicted by an international court for supporting rebels during Sierra Leone’s civil war.
Howard-Taylor eventually joined politics herself.
In 2017, then-presidential candidate George Weah picked her as his running mate, and she served as vice-president from 2018 until last year.
The charges against her include illegally importing and selling controlled dr¥gs, illicit tr+fficking, criminal solicitation, and helping others commit crimes.
Three other people two from Croatia and one from Ukraine have also been charged in connection with the same alleged drug ring, though they have not been arrested and remain at large.
The government says it will use both local and international efforts to track them down.
Liberia has been stepping up its fight against dr¥g trafficking following two major c@caine seizures over the past two months.
In July alone, authorities seized almost four tonnes of c@caine believed headed for Europe the biggest dr¥g bust in the country’s history.
The investigation has now expanded to include senior security officials as authorities try to identify everyone involved in running the operation and protecting it.
The government has stated that no one regardless of their position, political connections, nationality, or status is beyond the reach of the law.
