“NAME THE SUSPECTS” – COLP SLAMS BOAKAI GOVERNMENT OVER SECRECY IN $19.2M RIA COCAINE BUST
BY: Rufus Divine Brooks Jr.
MONROVIA, – The Propose Congress of the Liberian People Party has condemned the government’s handling of the $19.2 million cocaine seizure at Roberts International Airport, accusing authorities of shielding suspects and abandoning transparency standards applied to ordinary citizens.
On June 8, 2026, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, working with airport security, intercepted 198 compressed plates of cocaine valued at $19,226,000 concealed in six cargo boxes.
The shipment was processed for export via Brussels Airlines to Europe. It ranks among the largest narcotics seizures in Liberia’s history.
COLP praised frontline LDEA officers and the U.S. Embassy for supporting anti-drug operations. But the party said praise for the bust cannot excuse what it called a “wall of secrecy” that followed.
Since the seizure, LDEA has refused to release the identities of six suspects in custody, citing “ongoing investigation” and “transnational complexity.
COLP argues this violates Liberia’s legal norms and the public’s constitutional right to information.
The party pointed to LDEA’s own record, noting that 233 people arrested nationwide in Q1 2026 had their names documented and made public.
Ordinary suspects, COLP said, are routinely handcuffed, photographed, and “paraded” in the media.
COLP recalled the December 2025 raid on artist Karwoudou Cole, alias Bucky Raw, over 31.6 grams of alleged marijuana.
His arrest was broadcast on Facebook Live and dominated headlines before formal charges were filed. “No one spoke of ‘investigative privilege’ then.
No one cited ‘transnational complexity,’” the statement said.
COLP described the government’s silence as “institutional opacity” rather than investigative caution.
The party accused officials of political calculation, warning that Liberians have watched “powerful people walk free while powerless people are paraded” under both CDC and UP administrations.
“198 plates of cocaine worth $19.2 million did not pass through RIA without human hands, human decisions, and human connections,” COLP stated.
“The Liberian people have an absolute, nonnegotiable right to know whose hands, whose decisions, and whose connections those were.”
The party demanded that President Joseph Boakai’s government name the suspects immediately, arguing that no investigation is legitimate if it cannot withstand public scrutiny.