President Joseph Boakai’s top aide in the ongoing war on narcotics trafficking has suggested that prosecutors don’t need to show a direct connection between former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor and the physical movement of cocaine to secure a trafficking conviction.
Sam Gaye, a retired US Drug Enforcement Administration agent and director of Liberia’s Executive Protection Service, said in a Facebook post Wednesday that prosecutors need to establish that an accused person had knowledge of and intent related to the movement of drugs.
“The public is very uninformed about drug trafficking laws,” Gaye wrote. “You don’t need to directly touch, see, or move the actual drugs to be guilty of drug trafficking crimes and related offenses.”
His remarks appear to address growing public doubts over whether prosecutors can prove Howard-Taylor’s direct participation in the alleged cocaine trade.
“All that is required is ‘knowledge and intent’ that the drugs would be imported into the United States,” Gaye said, citing US laws used to prosecute foreign-based drug organizations.
Under Liberia’s 2023 controlled-drugs law prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused knowingly and intentionally committed, assisted or agreed to commit a prohibited drug offense rather than innocently or accidentally.
Howard-Taylor appeared in court Tuesday to face charges including illicit trafficking, importing and exporting controlled substances, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, criminal solicitation, money laundering and aiding the consummation of a crime.
Prosecutors allege that she accepted $135,000 from an intermediary linked to a transnational cocaine network and agreed to help establish Liberia as a transit hub. The allegations stem from meetings in Dubai in 2022 between Howard-Taylor and members of the network, according to the Joint Special Investigation Team.
Prosecutors say Howard-Taylor received $45,000 during the trip for shopping and later obtained an additional $75,000 through a man identified as Sheikh Bashiru Kante for her Jewel Star Fish Foundation. A further $15,000 was allegedly paid in August 2026.
Investigators accuse her of maintaining contact with members of the network through August 2026. The case is supported by travel records, audio recordings, witness testimony and other evidence, prosecutors said.
Howard-Taylor, who served as vice president from 2018 to 2024, has denied the allegations.
