Former Liberian vice-president charged in drug-trafficking probe

BBC:

Liberia has charged former Vice-President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering and a range of other offences as part of an investigation into an alleged transnational narcotics network.

She was detained on Wednesday before being able to board a flight at Roberts International Airport in the capital, Monrovia, the country’s justice ministry confirmed.

Police chief Gregory Coleman has linked her to the seizure last month of cocaine valued at $317m (£233m).

The 63-year-old politician has yet to make any public comment about the allegations. Her lawyer told the BBC he could not comment until Howard-Taylor was formally charged in court.

Howard-Taylor went into politics after her now ex-husband, former President Charles Taylor, left power. He was a former rebel leader who was elected Liberia’s president in 1997, remaining in office until 2003.

Charles Taylor was later arrested and convicted by a UN-back court of aiding and abetting rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war, in which some 50,000 people died.

Several years later, George Weah picked Howard-Taylor as his running mate and she served as his deputy during his presidency from 2018 until 2024.