Liberian prosecutors have indicted former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor and several others over an alleged US$317 million cocaine trafficking operation.
The indictment, filed on October 7 at Criminal Court C in Monrovia, also names former officials Mark Quiah and Gerald Foley Smith, alongside other Liberian and foreign nationals.
The defendants face charges including drug trafficking, conspiracy and money laundering. Howard-Taylor, arrested in August, was later placed under house arrest on medical and compassionate grounds.
Following the filing, the court issued an arrest writ directing the sheriff to bring the accused before the court to answer the charges.
Howard-Taylor was arrested in August in connection with the alleged trafficking network and later placed under house arrest on medical and compassionate grounds while proceedings continued.
The allegations have yet to be proven in court, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
