By By: Contributing Writer
Judge Ousman F. Feika must now decide whether former Liberia National Police Highway Patrol chief Wadell W. Kwabo will be tried apart from his co-defendants, and in another court, in Liberia’s US$317 million cocaine trafficking case. Feika heard arguments from the defense and the prosecution Tuesday, Nov. 10, and reserved his ruling.
Kwabo’s lawyers have asked Criminal Court ‘C’ to sever his trial from those of the other defendants and to move it to another court. If the judge grants either request, it would change how one of the country’s most closely watched narcotics prosecutions moves forward.
In a separate bail application, Kwabo’s legal team, led by Cllr. Sayma Syrnius Cephus, said the prosecution has failed to produce enough evidence linking him to the trafficking operation. The lawyers said the case against him rests largely on statements attributed to co-defendant Christian L. Nyantee. They said prosecutors have offered no independent evidence that Kwabo knew of or took part in the scheme.
They also said security escorts were a routine duty of the Highway Patrol Section and should not be taken as proof that he joined a drug trafficking operation.
The 55-page grand jury indictment accuses Kwabo of using his position as Highway Patrol chief to help move a cocaine shipment from Royesville toward Cement Road on May 30, 2026. It alleges he was paid US$5,000 for his role through Nyantee, a former deputy airport commander of the National Security Agency.
Prosecutors allege Nyantee received US$10,000 from Jammel V. Jallah and paid US$5,000 each to Kwabo and Anthony T. Blaye, former chief of the LNP Financial Crime Division. Kwabo and Blaye are among the former security officials accused of using official security resources to move the drugs.
The case stems from the July 21, 2026, seizure of about 3,971 kilograms of cocaine, valued at about US$317 million, from a compound in the Duazon area of Margibi County. Kwabo was dismissed from the police after a joint national security investigation and later charged.
The charges remain allegations, and Kwabo is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
