Africa-Press – Liberia. Liberian authorities announced the seizure of approximately 317 million dollars worth of cocaine that was headed to Europe, marking one of the largest drug busts recorded in the country’s history.
Gregory Coleman, the inspector general of the Liberian National Police, stated that officers found 3,971 kilograms of cocaine in the town of Duazon, east of the capital Monrovia. He added that the police arrested two suspects, one holding passports from Spain and Colombia, and the other with a Serbian passport.
Videos and photos released by the police showed a house filled with cardboard boxes and travel bags wrapped in plastic, labeled “Coco” and “Poseidon.” Coleman explained that the source of the drugs is still unclear and that chemical analysis and marking examinations are needed to determine the country of origin.
Drug traffickers often use West African countries as transit points to smuggle large quantities of cocaine from South America to Europe. Last month, Liberian authorities seized 237.6 kilograms of cocaine, valued at over 19 million dollars, at Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia. Coleman stated that this shipment was coming from Sierra Leone and heading to Britain.
Coleman added that the shipment is linked to Dutch cocaine kingpin Jos Legdijkers, but he refrained from providing further details. Reuters reported last year that Legdijkers, one of Europe’s most wanted criminals, found refuge and high-level protection in Sierra Leone.
Coleman stated that the police have not established a connection between the two cases and believe that the seized cocaine came from different sources. François Patwell, head of the research department for West and Central Africa at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, remarked, “Recent seizures in Liberia show broader trends in global cocaine trafficking,” as drug traffickers diversify smuggling routes and increase quantities.
Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo, director of the Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa – part of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime – noted that some of the most sophisticated cocaine networks in the world operate in West Africa, where large quantities of drugs are stored.
