In a major step to combat state-level corruption and institutional complicity, Liberian authorities have arrested and charged former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking and money laundering after intercepting her at the nation’s primary international airport, the Justice Ministry stated.
Howard-Taylor, who served from 2018 to 2024, was stopped at Roberts International Airport outside the capital Monrovia while attempting to leave the country and taken into police custody as part of an investigation into a transnational narcotics network.
She faces charges including the unlicensed importation, sale, distribution, and transportation of controlled substances, as well as criminal solicitation, facilitation, and conspiracy.
Authorities have also charged three foreign nationals in absentia over their alleged involvement: Croatian citizens Nikolai Ivancic and Mihovil Vrovac, and Ukrainian national Tara Zaderieko.
The arrest marks a dramatic escalation in Liberia‘s efforts to disrupt international cartels taking advantage of West Africa as a primary transit corridor for South American cocaine bound for European markets.
Ministry officials noted the case against Howard-Taylor is separate from recent record-setting seizures in the country, including a four-tonne shipment intercepted in July valued at an estimated $317 million.
