Former Liberian vice president jailed pending trial on drug trafficking charges

On Tuesday, Jewel Howard-Taylor was transferred to a prison facility to await trial after a Liberian court refused her petition to remain in a Monrovia hospital for urgent medical care. The former vice president, in office from 2018 until 2024 and spouse of ex-president Charles Taylor, is charged with drug trafficking, money laundering and other crimes together with three foreign nationals tried in absentia. Prosecutors argue the case is supported by travel records, audio evidence, witness testimony and links to a transnational cocaine network.

Howard-Taylor’s lawyers maintain the allegations are politically motivated. Her arrest follows a recent operation in which Liberian authorities seized and destroyed roughly 4.2 metric tons of cocaine, a haul valued at about $317 million and tied to senior police figures. The incident highlights West Africa’s growing role as a corridor for South American cocaine bound for Europe.