Liberia's Ex-Vice President Jailed Ahead of Drug Trafficking Trial

A Liberian court has ordered the country's former vice president to remain in custody while she awaits trial on drug trafficking and related charges, rejecting a request for her release on medical grounds.

Jewel Howard-Taylor, who served as vice president from 2018 to 2024, was sent to prison on Tuesday. Her legal team had asked the court to allow her to stay in a Monrovia hospital for treatment after she suffered an asthma attack and reported high blood pressure while in police custody.

Howard-Taylor was arrested on August 19 at Roberts International Airport as she attempted to leave the country. She faces multiple charges, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and other offenses, alongside three foreign nationals who have been charged in absentia. The case stems from an investigation into an alleged transnational narcotics network.

Her lawyers have dismissed the allegations as politically motivated. However, investigators say the case is supported by travel records, audio recordings, witness testimonies, and evidence linking her to members of a cocaine trafficking network.

The case comes after Liberian authorities last month seized and burned approximately 4.2 metric tons of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $317 million. The operation also implicated senior police officials in the trafficking network.

West Africa has increasingly become a transit hub for cocaine moving from South America to Europe, with traffickers exploiting porous borders and weak enforcement in parts of the region.