How a $317 million cocaine bust led to Liberia's former vice president's arrest

A former vice president. A $317 million cocaine seizure. And an allegation that drug traffickers sought access near the centre of Liberian power.

That is the case now surrounding Jewel Howard-Taylor, who served as Liberia’s vice president from 2018 to 2024 under former President George Weah. In August 2026, authorities arrested her at Roberts International Airport as she attempted to leave the country.

She has since been charged in connection with an alleged international drug trafficking network tied to a 4.2-ton cocaine bust worth an estimated $317 million. The charges include drug trafficking-related offences, criminal conspiracy, facilitation, solicitation and money laundering.

Howard-Taylor denies the allegations. Her lawyers have described the case as politically motivated and say they will challenge it in court. Former President Weah has also defended her, arguing that the rule of law is being undermined.

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But the allegations themselves are striking because of what prosecutors claim happened while Howard-Taylor was still one of the most powerful political figures in Liberia.

According to the government’s case, Howard-Taylor was introduced in 2022 to two alleged members of the trafficking network: Ukrainian nationals Mihovil Vrovac, also known as Michael, and Taras Zadereiko, also known as Tony. Investigators say the meeting was arranged through her close associate, Sheikh Kante Bashiru, and took place at her residence in Congo Town.

Prosecutors allege that this was only the beginning.

They claim Howard-Taylor later travelled to Dubai, where she met Nikola Ivancic, a Croatian national described by authorities as the alleged leader of the network. The meeting reportedly took place at the H Hotel near the Trade Centre Roundabout on Sheikh Zayed Road.

According to the charge sheet, the group discussed using Liberia as a transit point for cocaine shipments destined for Europe. Prosecutors allege that Howard-Taylor agreed to support the arrangement.

The money trail is now one of the central parts of the case. Investigators claim Ivancic gave Howard-Taylor US$45,000 in Dubai, described as shopping money. They also allege that US$75,000 was later provided through Kante for the Jewel Starfish Foundation, an organisation associated with Howard-Taylor. A further US$15,000 payment was allegedly made in August 2026, bringing the total cited in the government’s case to US$135,000.

The three foreign nationals — Ivancic, Vrovac and Zadereiko — have been charged in absentia because they are not currently in Liberian custody.

What makes the case especially significant is the office Howard-Taylor once held. She was vice president when Liberia passed the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in 2023, the same legal framework now being used against her. Under that law, cocaine falls under the highest tier of illicit drugs, with punishment of up to 25 years and no possibility of bail.

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The case has not gone to trial, and prosecutors still have to prove their claims. But for now, the central allegation is clear: that an alleged cocaine network did not simply seek to move drugs through Liberia, but sought political access and protection at the highest levels of the state.

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