Liberian police have burned more than four tonnes of cocaine worth about $336 million Sh43.33 billion ($336 million), days after the country's biggest drug seizure in history.
In a viral video seen by TNX Africa, officers set the drugs ablaze on Thursday, July 30, following the record haul from a storage facility in Duazon, about 12 miles east of the capital, Monrovia.
According to the Associated Press, the operation has since implicated senior police officers in a major bribery and drug smuggling investigation.
After an 18-month undercover operation, investigators discovered dozens of locked suitcases packed with high-grade cocaine hidden inside a truck.
The seizure exposed alleged corruption within Liberia's police force. Police Chief Gregory O.W. Coleman said senior officers are suspected of helping protect and facilitate drug shipments through the country.
Africans Celebrate as 4.2 Metric Tons of Cocaine Worth $336 Million Are Burned Following Major Drug Bust in Liberia pic.twitter.com/BKXqUkOQZz
— Instablog9ja (@instablog9ja) August 2, 2026
The head of the highway patrol and the chief of major crimes have been charged, while a senior airport police commander remains under investigation.
A week before the public destruction of the drugs, police arrested several suspects during the raid, including two foreign nationals. One was carrying a Serbian passport, while the other held both Spanish and Colombian passports.
Authorities seized 8,818 pounds of cocaine, initially estimated to be worth Sh40.88 billion ($317 million).
Vice President Jeremiah Koung warned that anyone found involved, regardless of rank or position, would face the full force of the law.
Authorities also destroyed an additional 237 kilograms of cocaine seized at the country's main airport in June. In that case, traffickers allegedly concealed the drugs in cargo boxes labelled as food spices and clothing.
The airport seizure prompted President Joseph Boakai to order a full joint investigation after critics accused law enforcement agencies of responding too slowly.
Coleman said the destruction of the drugs sends a clear message that Liberia will no longer serve as a safe haven for international drug cartels.
West Africa has increasingly become a major transit route for South American cocaine destined for Europe, with experts estimating that nearly a third of Europe's cocaine passes through the region.
"Between 2018 and 2023, apparently there was a resurface of major trafficking and transiting in Liberia. Over the last one-and-a-half years, we've been surveilling them and this is the result of that operation," Coleman told the BBC.