Monrovia, Liberia – Liberian political commentator Henry Pedro Costa has accused the administration of former President George Manneh Weah of creating an environment in which international drug-trafficking networks allegedly became increasingly comfortable operating in Liberia, while praising President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for what he described as a stronger political commitment to confronting the narcotics trade.
Costa made the assertion Saturday, August 23, 2026, during an appearance on Spoon FM hosted by Stanton A. Witherspoon, where he compared the former Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration’s handling of drug trafficking with the series of major narcotics seizures recorded under the current Unity Party-led government.
According to Costa, drug cartels became “very entrenched” during the CDC administration and allegedly developed relationships that enabled them to move, import, transit and traffic narcotics through Liberia.
“The cartels became very comfortable during the CDC time,” Costa said, arguing that criminal networks had cultivated what he described as a “strategic relationship” that allowed them to facilitate the movement of their products.
Costa further characterized the administration’s major 2022 cocaine seizure as essentially accidental, arguing that the operation was not initiated through intelligence generated by the Liberian government.
His comments were specifically directed at the seizure of approximately 520 kilograms of cocaine, estimated at US$100 million, that Liberian authorities intercepted in October 2022.
That case remains one of the most significant drug seizures in Liberia’s history. According to the U.S. Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency and National Security Agency seized the cocaine after being tipped off by U.S. investigators. The shipment arrived in a frozen-goods container, and authorities believed the cocaine had originated in Colombia before being loaded onto a container in Brazil and transported to Liberia.
Costa said that sequence was precisely why he considered the seizure accidental from the standpoint of the Liberian government.
He explained that the traffickers allegedly concealed the cocaine inside frozen-food containers, apparently believing the shipment could pass through Liberia without detection. According to Costa, U.S. authorities were monitoring the shipment and eventually provided the intelligence that enabled Liberian security agencies to intervene.
“The Americans were observing. The Americans were paying attention,” Costa said, maintaining that the information came from the U.S. Embassy rather than from the Liberian government’s own intelligence apparatus.
Contemporary reporting supports the central part of Costa’s account concerning the source of the intelligence. The U.S. narcotics report states that LDEA and the NSA were tipped off by U.S. investigators before making the seizure. Liberian Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean also confirmed at the time that U.S. assistance was involved.
However, Costa’s broader characterization of the operation as “accidental” is disputed by the official record.
The Liberian Ministry of Justice said after the seizure that the operation was the result of a “well-planned operation” involving law-enforcement agencies from several countries. The ministry also warned against speculation and unsupported accusations concerning individuals or companies connected to the shipment.
The 2022 seizure was followed only months later by another major cocaine interception at the Freeport of Monrovia.
In January 2023, another large consignment of cocaine was seized after being hidden in a frozen-food shipment. The Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency later placed the value of the seizure at approximately US$37.8 million, involving about 197 packages. Reports said TRH Trading Corporation alerted authorities after becoming suspicious about the container.
The two major seizures within several months intensified public debate over Liberia’s vulnerability to international drug-trafficking networks and raised questions about security at the country’s principal port.
The U.S. narcotics report covering 2022 similarly warned that West Africa was increasingly being used as a transshipment corridor for cocaine produced in Latin America and destined for other international markets.
Costa nevertheless argued that the scale and frequency of drug interceptions under the Boakai administration demonstrate a different level of political commitment.
Since Boakai took office, Liberia has recorded several major narcotics seizures, including the June 2026 interception of approximately 237.6 kilograms of cocaine at Roberts International Airport and the July 2026 seizure of nearly four metric tons of cocaine in Duazon, Margibi County.
The two seizures were subsequently combined in the government’s destruction of approximately 4.2 metric tons of cocaine valued at roughly US$336 million. The operation also resulted in investigations involving senior police officials, highlighting the government’s decision to pursue suspected local facilitators alongside foreign trafficking suspects.
Costa said those developments give him confidence that Liberia can eventually weaken the influence of international drug networks.
“I think we’ve seen a significant amount of political will on the part of the administration to deal with this,” he said. “That gives me comfort. That makes me confident that we’re going to win against the cartels.”
He acknowledged, however, that the fight would not end simply because major seizures had been made.
According to Costa, drug-trafficking organizations are unlikely to abandon Liberia merely because some shipments have been intercepted or some suspects arrested.
“Criminals never give up just because they get caught or they get exposed,” he said, stressing that sustained law enforcement and political commitment would be necessary to dismantle the networks.
Costa’s comments come at a particularly sensitive moment in Liberia’s anti-narcotics campaign. The government is currently pursuing investigations into the country’s largest-ever cocaine seizure, while a separate investigation has led to charges against former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor and several foreign nationals in connection with an alleged transnational narcotics network. Authorities have maintained that the investigation will be pursued without political interference.
The contrast between the two administrations is therefore becoming a major part of Liberia’s current political debate over drug trafficking.
While Costa argues that the Weah-era response was largely dependent on foreign intelligence and failed to sufficiently disrupt the networks behind the shipments, supporters of the former administration can point to the fact that the 520-kilogram seizure was, nevertheless, successfully intercepted, suspects were arrested and a major international trafficking operation was disrupted.
What remains less clear is whether the 2022 seizure represented an isolated success or evidence of a broader enforcement strategy capable of dismantling the networks responsible.
Costa’s argument is that the answer became apparent only after the change in government.
For him, the repeated large-scale seizures under the Boakai administration represent evidence of a more deliberate campaign to pursue both the drugs and the networks behind them.
