Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08MONROVIA91
2008-01-31 17:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Monrovia
Cable title:  

LIBERIA: EFFORTS TO COMBAT WEST AFRICAN DRUG

Tags:  SNAR PREL PGOV KCRM EAID SOCI LI 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHMV #0091/01 0311741
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 311741Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9706
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEABND/DEA WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0007
RHEHAAA/NSC WASH DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MONROVIA 000091 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2018
TAGS: SNAR PREL PGOV KCRM EAID SOCI LI
SUBJECT: LIBERIA: EFFORTS TO COMBAT WEST AFRICAN DRUG
TRAFFICKING

REF: 07 STATE 165562

Classified By: Ambassador Donald E. Booth for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MONROVIA 000091

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2018
TAGS: SNAR PREL PGOV KCRM EAID SOCI LI
SUBJECT: LIBERIA: EFFORTS TO COMBAT WEST AFRICAN DRUG
TRAFFICKING

REF: 07 STATE 165562

Classified By: Ambassador Donald E. Booth for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) SUMMARY: The Government of Liberia (GOL) does not
currently have the will or resources to fight
drug-trafficking. Liberia is not presently a major
transshipment point for cocaine bound for Europe, but is
likely to become so as infrastructure improves and UNMIL
draws down. A small number of government officials recognize
the likelihood of future problems and have begun to work
towards tougher narcotics laws in the country. Liberian Drug
Enforcement Agency has received no bilateral support and
minimal international support from the United Nations. The
Liberian Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) will likely be
absorbed into the Liberia National Police (LNP) as part of a
larger national security strategy. Training and
rehabilitation resources are at the top of the LDEA,s wish
list.

NARCOTICS TRENDS
--------------


2. (U) Currently, Liberia experiences low-grade, regional
trafficking for internal consumption. Nigerians are
suspected of bringing in the majority of cocaine and some
marijuana. Most is brought overland on trucks across
Liberia's porous borders. (Note: According to a press
account, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Director
for Anti-Child Trafficking Col. Anthony Bonar said that only
30 of 146 border posts are regularly manned. End Note.)
There have also been some reports of vessels docking at small
ports in Sinoe, Grand Kru, and River Cess Counties. Cannabis
is grown primarily in Bong County, but crops can be found
throughout Liberia.


3. (C) The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has received
reporting that some United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
officials, especially members of the Nigerian contingent and
Ukrainian contractors operating UNMIL airlift, are complicit
in the drug trade, facilitating trafficking by sea and air.
DEA has also received information that Colombian drug cartels

have approached GOL officials in an effort to receive
protection for trafficking networks in Liberia.


4. (U) Local consumption largely takes the form of crack and
marijuana. The LDEA assesses that many consumers are
ex-combatants, both new users as well as those still addicted
from drug use during the war who never had access to
rehabilitation clinics or therapy. They also connect these
users with violent crime in Liberia. According to the LDEA,
intravenous drug use is on the rise in Liberia.


5. (U) In her Annual Message to the Legislature January 28,
President Sirleaf said that the LDEA arrested 179 drug
offenders in 2007, a 44% increase over the previous year,
noting that many of those arrested were foreigners. However,
of the 179 arrested, only nine were convicted. She called
for a more effective response to the growing drug menace, and
greater patrol by the LNP, Customs and Immigration. She said
that the LDEA destroyed "huge quantities" of marijuana,
cocaine and heroin. (Note: In recent months the GOL has made
some highly publicized seizures of large quantities of
cannabis. However, according to the LDEA, 1,405 grams of
cocaine and only 16.2 grams of heroin were seized and
destroyed in 2007. There were no reported seizures of
amphetamines. End Note.)

LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS AND CAPABILITIES
--------------


6. (U) The LDEA currently has 70 officers spread through
seven counties. They plan to deploy officers to the
remaining eight counties this year. There are officers
posted at some border crossing points. They plan to assign
one officer to Roberts International Airport (RIA) and the
Freeport of Monrovia. There are already officers posted at
the Port of Buchanan. LDEA has invited UNMIL to assist in
counternarcotics efforts, but UNMIL has thus far not
participated. The LDEA performs raids throughout the
country, based on tips and information collected by their
intelligence team. LDEA routinely performs burn exercises to
dispose of confiscated drugs.


7. (U) The LNP has a drug unit, though it operates primarily,
and sporadically, in Monrovia. The LNP and LDEA do not
coordinate or deconflict operations within Monrovia, though
there has been some deconfliction of operations in leeward

MONROVIA 00000091 002 OF 003


counties. There have been accusations of corruption within
all levels of the LNP, to include LNP protection of drug
traffickers. LDEA has allegedly arrested LNP officers for
drug trafficking. The LNP drug unit was specifically
targeted as it has never performed a burn exercise, prompting
the question as to where seized drugs have gone.


8. (U) The LDEA does posses and has been trained on drug
testing kits. It is unclear how often they use them.

NATIONAL STRATEGY
--------------


9. (C) Despite the lack of GOL capacity there does not appear
to be a large-scale trafficking problem in Liberia at
present. This is attributed primarily to the fact that the
infrastructure in Liberia is too poor for large scale
operations. The inefficiencies and high expense at the port
in Monrovia have made the transshipment of any goods
cumbersome. RIA has few international flights (however, the
number is growing -- Kenya began flying from Nairobi via
Accra in April 2007 and Royal Air Maroc began flying from
Casablanca in December 2007),and roads are hazardous. Also,
despite the low priority UNMIL has placed on
counternarcotics, the mere presence of about 15,000 UNMIL
troops (and the fact that UNMIL controls all the airports) is
dissuasive. However, continued infrastructure development
and the drawdown of UNMIL, as well as the crackdown on drug
trafficking in nearby countries, will likely make Liberia a
more attractive transit point in the future.


10. (U) Liberia does not have a clear national
counternarcotics strategy to deal with this looming threat.
Liberia does not have any narcotics laws. The LDEA currently
operates under a public health law, and all offences are
bailable, meaning suspects arrested for drug crimes merely
have to pay a fine in order to be released. LDEA recently
drafted an anti-trafficking law, which incorporates
money-laundering, asset freeze and confiscation regulations.
The anti-trafficking law is with the Minister of Justice for
review before going to the legislature for passage.


11. (C) GOL discussions regarding a Liberian National
Security Strategy bogged down in December over a disagreement
between the Security Pillar and the Governance Commission
(GC) on consolidation of the intelligence and law enforcement
agencies, with the Pillar recommending that the LDEA be
dissolved into the LNP, and the GC arguing for separate
authorities as checks and balances. (Note: the Security
Pillar, chaired at the ministerial level and comprising GOL
officials and international partners, is one of four pillars
of the Liberia Reconstruction and Development Commission.
The GC is charged with promoting governance reform
principles. End Note.) The two bodies agreed to send
separate drafts to the President. Meanwhile, the Ministry of
Justice, with USG assistance, has completed a draft "Liberian
National Security and Intelligence Act" that would subsume
the LDEA into the LNP. President Sirleaf has not yet
approved either a National Security Strategy nor a draft
National Security and Intelligence Act, but has indicated she
would like to move ahead with submitting the draft Act to the
legislature soon.


12. (U) LDEA has no relationship with regional counterparts
and there is no information sharing.


13. (U) There are no national anti-drug campaigns. LDEA
occasionally has spots on radio talk shows to serve this
purpose.

BILATERAL/INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
--------------


14. (U) The GOL receives no bilateral support for
counternarcotics efforts. UNMIL's International Police
contingent ran a workshop for LDEA on drug identification in

2006. In 2005 and 2006 the UN/Office on Drugs and Crime
sponsored four LDEA officers to attend training in Nigeria.
They did not receive an invitation in 2007. The UN is
renovating an LDEA office in Bong County.


15. (U) LDEA will be sending an officer to Dakar, Senegal for
an upcoming regional conference on cocaine trafficking in
West Africa. They also received an invitation for a
conference in Vienna, Austria for an HIV-Drug conference.

LIBERIAN WISH-LIST
--------------

MONROVIA 00000091 003 OF 003




16. (U) The Director of the Liberian DEA told PolOff that all
assistance would be helpful, specifically logistics in the
form of vehicles and motorbikes, test kits, and training for
officers. Additionally, he emphasized the need for
rehabilitation services in the country. Despite the media
coverage of child soldiers and combatants using the
cocaine/gunpowder mix there was never a concerted effort to
send the adult ex-combatants through rehabilitation during
the disarmament period.

Booth