IPNEWS: The Panoramic Justice Group has called on the United States Congress to hold a congressional hearing into Liberia’s growing cocaine-trafficking crisis, arguing that the scale of recent drug seizures raises serious questions extending beyond the arrest and prosecution of individual suspects.
In an August 24 letter to U.S. Congressman Christopher H. Smith, the Washington-based organization, through its Executive Director, D. Garkpe Gedepoh, asked U.S. lawmakers to examine allegations that elements of Liberia’s security apparatus may have been compromised or exposed to influence by transnational criminal networks.
The group cited two major cocaine seizures in Liberia during 2026.
The first involved approximately 237.6 kilograms of cocaine, reportedly worth more than US$19 million, intercepted at Roberts International Airport.
About six weeks later, Liberian authorities reportedly discovered approximately 3,971 kilograms—nearly four metric tons—of cocaine in Duazon, with an estimated street value of approximately US$317 million.
The sheer volume of narcotics reportedly intercepted within a relatively short period has transformed Liberia’s drug problem into a broader national-security and institutional-integrity issue.
The critical question is no longer limited to identifying the individuals found in possession of the drugs. It also concerns how such an enormous quantity of cocaine was able to enter Liberia, move through the country, or remain in storage without being detected earlier by the state’s security and intelligence systems.
The Panoramic Justice Group’s appeal for a U.S. congressional inquiry could therefore bring increased international scrutiny to Liberia’s counter-narcotics operations, border-control mechanisms, intelligence-sharing systems and the overall effectiveness of the country’s security architecture.
Particularly significant are allegations suggesting possible vulnerabilities within security institutions. If elements of the security system were knowingly or unknowingly compromised, investigators would need to determine how such weaknesses occurred, who may have benefited, and whether existing safeguards were sufficient to detect and prevent the movement of large-scale narcotics shipments.
At the same time, allegations of security-sector involvement or compromise remain unproven claims and should not be treated as established facts without credible evidence. Any investigation must therefore be independent, transparent and capable of establishing responsibility based on verifiable evidence.
The call from the Panoramic Justice Group adds another layer to Liberia’s unfolding cocaine controversy, placing the country’s response under a potentially wider international spotlight.
As Liberia confronts what could become one of the most serious narcotics-trafficking challenges in its recent history, the debate is increasingly shifting from individual arrests to larger questions of state capacity, institutional accountability, border security, intelligence failures and the ability of Liberia’s security institutions to disrupt transnational criminal networks.
For critics demanding a deeper investigation, the fundamental question remains: If nearly four metric tons of cocaine could reach and be stored in Liberia, what happened within the country’s security system that allowed such a massive shipment to get this far?
