Liberia destroyed 4.2 metric tons of cocaine after uncovering its biggest drug seizure. The move deepens a trafficking probe that has reached senior police ranks.

Liberian authorities on Thursday burned about 4.2 metric tons of cocaine worth around USD 336 million, days after announcing the country’s biggest-ever drug seizure and saying senior police officials were linked to the trafficking operation.

The destruction included nearly 4 metric tons of cocaine seized last week and another 237 kilograms recovered in June at Roberts International Airport. Police Inspector General Gregory O W Coleman said officers had been identified for allegedly helping escort the drugs after they arrived in Liberia.

Authorities said the chief of the highway patrol and the head of the major crimes unit have been charged. A deputy police commander at the country’s main airport is also a suspect, Coleman said.

Last week, Liberian authorities said they had seized nearly 4 metric tons of cocaine with an estimated “street value” of about USD 317 million and detained two foreign nationals while investigating what they described as a sophisticated transnational trafficking network. They called it the biggest drug bust in the country’s history.

The Justice Ministry said investigators recovered the cocaine during a raid at a property in Duazon, about 28 kilometres from the capital, Monrovia. It said a Serbian national and a dual Colombian-Spanish national were arrested and were being questioned.

Liberia’s police, the drug enforcement agency and other agencies also burned 237 kilograms of cocaine valued at more than USD 19 million that was seized in June at Roberts International Airport. Coleman said the burning was meant to send “a clear message” that Liberia was no longer “a place of comfort” for drug traffickers.

In recent years, West Africa has emerged as a key transit route for cocaine moved from South America to Europe, with smugglers taking advantage of porous borders and weak enforcement in parts of the region. According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, at least 30 per cent of cocaine meant for Europe now passes through the region, while local cocaine consumption, including crack cocaine, has also been rising.

The action by Liberian authorities follows the seizure of nearly 4 metric tons of cocaine last week, the arrest of two foreign nationals and the identification of senior police officials accused of helping move the drugs, as the country seeks to crack down on trafficking networks.

With PTI Inputs