Liberia’s cocaine bust near Monrovia has set a new national record, after police said they seized nearly 4,000 kilograms of processed cocaine from a suspected illegal storage site in Duazon. Authorities said the haul, uncovered in a raid near the capital, is the largest drugs seizure in the country’s history.
Investigators said they recovered 3,971 kilograms of cocaine during the operation, with an estimated street value of more than $317 million. Police videos and photos showed rows of sealed suitcases and boxes inside a lorry that investigators believed held high-grade cocaine. Several people were arrested in the raid, including two foreigners and several Liberians, though no formal charges have been announced yet.
Police chief Gregory Coleman initially said the seizure was worth $370 million, but investigators later revised that figure downward. Coleman told the BBC that forensic testing confirmed the substance was cocaine. He said the discovery came out of a long-running probe into suspected trafficking networks operating in Liberia. According to Coleman, investigators had been watching the group for more than a year and a half after seeing signs of a renewed rise in major trafficking and transit activity between 2018 and 2023.
Coleman also said it was still not clear where the drugs came from or where they were headed. He said police were investigating that question when the two foreign nationals arrived in Liberia and were then arrested. One of them, he said, was carrying Spanish and Colombian passports, while the other had a Serbian passport. The case remains open, and the public has not yet been told what charges, if any, will follow.
Vice-President Jeremiah Koung praised the security forces for the operation and said anyone found responsible would face the full force of the law, no matter who they are. His remarks came as the government continued to face pressure to show it can deal with a problem that has repeatedly put Liberia in the regional spotlight. The latest cocaine bust follows an airport seizure last month at Roberts International Airport, where security officers flagged suspicious cargo boxes during screening.
