By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
TEMPLE OF JUSTICE, Monrovia- The defendants in the US$100 million cocaine case have today, Thursday, May 182021 been found not guilty by the empaneled Jury of the Criminal Court “C” in the Liberian capital.
This case, which is said to be Liberia’s biggest narcotic drug case, resulted from the TRH Trading shipment of the drugs from Brazil to the country, with the jury finally handing down their verdict.
Four persons were indicted by the government in connection with the shipment of the cocaine and they have been tried on multiple charges including criminal conspiracy, money laundering, unlicensed possession of controlled drugs and unlicensed importation of controlled drugs.
For the past three months, the jurors have been listening to testimonies from a total of seven general witnesses and five defense subpoena witnesses.
So earlier today, the jury brought down their not guilty verdict in the courtroom, following a closing arguments by both the defense lawyers and the prosecution.
Last month (April), the legal Counsel representing the defendants in the ongoing US$100 Million cocaine case at the Criminal Court “C” Temple of Justice, Cllr. Wilkins Wright claimed that the defendants currently standing trial are all victims who were wrongly arrested. ‘Wrong People Arrested In US$100M Drug Case,’ Says Defense Lawyer – News Public Trust
During the trial, state prosecution paraded six general witnesses and three rebuttal witnesses, as well as, CCTV footage(videos) one of the defendants’ cell phone believed to have contained photo of the containers carrying the stockpile of cocaine and a physical testing of the drug in open court to prove to the jurors the existence of the cocaine allegedly seized from the THR premises on the Somalia drive.
While the defense on the other hand produced one general witness who testified on behalf of the remaining three defendants and six subpoena witnesses.
In November last year, the Liberia National Police over the weekend forwarded to court t suspects involved in the $100 million cocaine saga, this West African nation’s largest illicit drugs bust to date.
The culprits have been charged with drugs trafficking, money laundering, Criminal Conspiracy and criminal facilitation amongst others crimes, after their arrests on October 1, 2022.
The crackdown, which was largely made possible with extensive assistance from United States security apparatus from the point of departure in South America up to arrival in Monrovia, came amid repeated calls on Liberian Lawmakers to strengthen and pass the country’s drugs law by making the crime nonbailable.
Prosecution argument
The prosecution argument was based specifically from the testimonies of Samuel Nimely, the general manager of THR believed to be a whistleblower in the case.
According to Samuel Nimely testimony, which could be the focus point of the prosecution case, wherein he claimed that the defendants offered to give US$200K for a container of pig feet where the cocaine was allegedly discovered, which normally caused US$21k.
The prosecution will show the mobile phone images of the parking of said container shipped from Brazil to Liberia allegedly by the defendants.
The phone was said to have been seized from the defendants prior to their arrest.
“We were able to identify the narcotics as been grade A cocaine chemically tested. The cocaine was stocked in boxes labeled silver whiskey, the container having been identified and the suspects were arrested, said Nimely’s testimony.
The defense team closing arguments focused on two of its rebuttal testimonies.
In laying out their arguments the defense might look at the testimonies of two of its subpoena witnesses, James Hinneh, president of the Custom Broker Association of Liberia and Othello Garblah, publisher of the New Dawn Newspaper.
In his testimony, James Hinneh accused the National Port Authority (NPA) that they did not issued TRH Trading any import permit declaration to clear the cocaine container from the Free Port of Monrovia, surprisingly the container left the port without being searched.
Moreover, Hinneh, the defense fifth rebuttal witness in the ongoing US$100million cocaine case told the court and jury that BAVIC did not also give permission to TRH to clear the container.
“The cocaine container doesn’t follow the BAVIC regulations, because it does not attach its permit prior to the clearing of the container by TRH,” the defense fifth witness said.
According to Hinneh, the report was to confirm that the container is free of dangerous substances,
He also testified that TRH Trading also violate the customs regulation of Liberia by shipping the US$100million cocaine container in the country.
When Othello Garblah testified that he held TRH trading responsible for the shipment of the cocaine container in the country with the assistance of the government.
Mr. Garblah, the Publisher of the New Dawn Newspaper said “basically, in any giving situation criminals will exploit any weak system in this case Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) has admitted that TRH had been given certain privileges allowing them to clear their goods/ consignment of containers under such arrangement which is using mere invoices or bill landing ‘” witness Gablah testified.” Therefore, any criminal knowing such system could exploit same.
According to Garblah, prior to the arrival of the container, the Global Maritime Tracking Solution that tracks shipment across the world that the container with the US$100million cocaine be subjected to physical inspection but it was ignored.