{"id":37026,"date":"2023-05-24T17:11:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:53:10","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:53:10","slug":"senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case","title":{"rendered":"Senate to probe $100m cocaine case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>Montserrado County Senator Abraham Dillon has termed Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d recent verdict in the US$100 million drugs case as a factor that undermines collective efforts to combat drugs and its damaging effects on the country.<\/p>\n<p>Last Thursday, jurors at the Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d unanimously acquitted four defendants accused of importing into Liberia, 520 kilograms of cocaine valued at US$100 million offloaded at TRH warehouse in Topoe Village, importer of frozen poultry products.<\/p>\n<p>The discovery and confiscation of the illegal drugs brought into the country through the Freeport of Monrovia occurred in mid-2022 by national security actors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA week after said discovery, another consignment of dangerous drug at the monetary value of \u201cForty Million United States Dollars\u201d was reportedly discovered and confiscated from the very business center,\u201d Senator Dillon narrated.<\/p>\n<p>The four defendants adjudged not guilty under the jurisdiction of Judge A. Blamo Dixon of Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d include a Liberian, Oliver Zayzay and three foreigners named, Makki Ahmed Issam, Adulai Djalo and Malam Conte.<\/p>\n<p>They were tried on charges of money laundering, criminal conspiracy, unlicensed possession of controlled drugs and unlicensed importation of controlled drugs.<\/p>\n<p>But in his communication to the Senate plenary on Tuesday, May 23, Senator Dillon said the verdict also renders the country\u2019s fight against drug trafficking meaningless and exposes Liberia to international ridicule.<\/p>\n<p>He stresses that the country\u2019s international partners and the world are watching with dismay, adding that like many of his legislative colleagues, he is deeply concerned about the entire conduct of the trial and as such, the Liberian Senate needs to find out what transpired.<\/p>\n<p>Dillon reminds that under Article 34 (b) of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia, the Legislature is granted the power and authority to \u201cProvide for the security of the Republic\u201d, be it economic, health, public safety, national security, etc.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, due to the grave nature of this case, the huge public interest and concerns, and the threats such dangerous drugs pose to the country and its people, his office purposely followed and observed the trial at Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d at the Temple of Justice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore alarming is the increasing numbers of our citizens, particularly the youthful population falling prey to drug addiction and substance abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimply put, these acts are threats to our national security with potential threats to our existence as a country and people. It is time, more than before, for \u201celders\u201d of the land to act under the authority of Article 34 (b) of the Constitution of Liberia. We have the duty!\u201d The Montserrado County Senator notes in his communication.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he is seeking Plenary\u2019s endorsement to summon the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Frank Musa Dean; the Director of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency and the Commissioner-General of the Liberia Revenue Authority, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>He wants these officials to appear along with other relevant state security authorities in connection with the matter referenced above for appropriate legislative measures and or action\/s, where applicable and necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Dillon\u2019s communication was received and forwarded to the Senate Committees on Security and Judiciary, to report to plenary in a week.<\/p>\n<p>The decision was triggered by a motion from Lofa County Senator, Cllr. Joseph Jallah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\">Liberia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Liberia. Montserrado County Senator Abraham Dillon has termed Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d recent verdict in the US$100 million drugs case as a factor that undermines collective efforts to combat drugs and its damaging effects on the country. Last Thursday, jurors at the Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d unanimously acquitted four defendants accused of importing into Liberia, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":37024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-37026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senate to probe $100m cocaine case - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Montserrado County Senator Abraham Dillon has termed Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d recent verdict in the US$100 million drugs case ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate to probe $100m cocaine case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Montserrado County Senator Abraham Dillon has termed Criminal Court \u201cC\u201d recent verdict in the US$100 million drugs case ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-24T17:11:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-24T17:53:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/05\/sm_1684938042.366016.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Senate to probe $100m cocaine case\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-24T17:11:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-24T17:53:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case\"},\"wordCount\":549,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/05\/sm_1684938042.366016.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/senate-to-probe-100m-cocaine-case\",\"name\":\"Senate to probe $100m cocaine case - 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