By Kemo Cham
A Sierra Leonean national is among four Liberians facing charges for suspected drug trafficking in the latest crackdown by Liberian authorities.
Mohamed Nyallay was detained by agents of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) alongside two Liberian nationals for his involvement in the importation of ‘Kush’. The drug, which was contained in two boxes and weighing 10kg, was intercepted at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) in Monrovia after arrival via a Brussels Airlines flight (SN245) on July 19, 2024.
Mr Nyallay was charged as an accomplice in the importation of the prohibited substance. His accomplices are a clearing agent working with the international delivery service company, United Parcels Services, and the consignee of the package.
Christopher Peters, Officer-In-Charge of the Liberian anti-drug agency, made the revelation on Tuesday during a press conference at which he also revealed the interception of a larger cache of drugs at the Bo Waterside, the border between Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Mr Peters and his team told journalists at the press conference in Monrovia that the consignment intercepted at the airport tested positive for Methamphetamine, a stimulant used to manufacture the highly addictive drug called Kush, which is at the center of an ongoing drug epidemic in the sub region.
According to the Liberian anti-drug officials, the street value of the drug arrested at RIA was estimated at USD200, 000 (LD38m).
The street value of the drugs arrested at the Bo Waterside, which was found in a Guinean registered white minibus driven by Liberian national, Abass Sannoh, is estimated at USD620, 000 (LD1,017, 800). It weighed 31kg.
The arrests are the latest in a series of events by the Liberian anti-drug which is battling a drug crisis they say are fuelled by similar crises across the borders in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Peters was appointed last June in a caretaker capacity, following a leadership tussle that led to the dismissal of almost the entire executive of the agency. Weeks after assuming office, he lamented the role played by the porous nature of the borders between Liberia and its neighbours – Guinea and Sierra Leone – in fuelling his country’s drug crisis.
On Tuesday, Peters noted that everyone in the sub region appeared more concerned about what’s coming in their territories than what’s going out.
But he added that his agency was working with Sierra Leone through its embassy in Monrovia and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in Freetown to strengthen collaboration in the fight against the drug menace in the region.
