Senior members of the security forces in Liberia investigating the US$100 million drugs case are with the predominant view that George Abi Jaoudi had prior knowledge about the container of drugs that came into the country, but for fear that he was being watched by officers with the tip-off he personally called the US Ambassador, Michael McCarthy, as a means of cover-up.
The security men who confided in the Hot Pepper alleged that the NSA Director, Henric Pearson, the Police Inspector General, Col. Patrick Sudue, and the LDEA boss knew nothing about the drugs catch. However, they said the senior security bosses with the information were requested to share the information with the LDEA.
According to them, it was during this interaction between the NSA and LDEA that Abi Jaoudi got the tip-off that some security personnel had been tipped about the drugs coming into the country. They were in one accord as to who leaked the information to Abi Jaoudi, pointing accusing fingers at the DEA.
They said that, as a means of evading justice, Abi Jaoudi then called the US Ambassador, portraying himself as a whistleblower.
The angry law enforcement officers are also of the opinion that the Justice Minister, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, took a bribe and intentionally lost the case. They alleged that the Justice Minister had prior knowledge that the Republic would lose the case, claiming that if the Minister of Justice wanted to arrest the situation, with prior knowledge, a writ of arrest should have been waiting for the defendants once they left the courtroom.
Wishing they were journalists to speak out, the law enforcement officials said that the Minister of Justice was allegedly involved in the planning and execution of the defendants’ escape. They said right after the defendants were acquitted, a vehicle was waiting to escort them to the Liberia-Sierra Leona border, where they slept. The officers alleged that before the defendants crossed into Sierra Leone the Justice Minister had prior knowledge and consented.
The law enforcement officers said that what was shocking during their investigation is that the telephones of the defendants were seized. They claimed that there were senior government officials’ names on the phones’ call logs that were called, but never investigated. They claimed that the US$200,000 (two hundred thousand dollars) arrested with the defendants was never transferred through any bank, but collected in loose cash from their accomplices right here in Liberia, suggesting that the names of those accomplices in question were on their call logs.
Wondering why the Minister of Justice would take the drugs case from the LDEA, which has an investigative component, and give same to the Police is anyone’s guess. Investigation continues.