By Franklin Doloquee
KARNPLAY, Nimba County, Liberia – The Karnplay City Magisterial Court has under dubious circumstances released between 19 and 56 cartons of pharmaceutical drugs believed to be donated to Liberia to cross-border illegal medicine traders.
The number of cartons seized by local authorities varies according to the source. The warrant issued by the Karnplay Magisterial Court states that 19 cartons were confiscated. Court records cite 38 cartons.
However, multiple community members interviewed stated the number was actually 56. The reason behind these discrepancies has not been established.
The medicines, according to court documents, are worth more than USD $700,000. However, other sources have acknowledged that this estimated valuation seems high and there has been no independent verification of the cost of the medicines.
On September 3, 2023, a Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) officer in Karnplay City arrested the pharmaceutical drugs and filed a formal complaint with the court. Of the 56 cartons seized by the LDEA, 20 of them searched in front of court officials contained medicines donated to the government of Liberia, including malaria drugs, TB and leprosy drugs, among others, while the remaining 36 cartons held other pharmaceutical drugs that belonged to other pharmacies, according to officials familiar with the story.
Citizens of Yeaplay Town in the Karnplay City neighborhood provided information to the LDEA, leading to the arrest.
How were those drugs released by the Court?
After months of investigation, our reporter established that the court did not hold any of the three individuals it ordered arrested to account. Instead, it released the drugs to them without consent or any form of consultation with the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency or relevant authorities involved.
Karnplay City Solicitor Joseph Duo confirmed to our reporter at the court that they released those 56 cartons of pharmaceutical drugs and justified that the importers provided a document that allowed the Court to release them. He said the cartons were 19, not 56.
The magistrate, who is the head of the court, refused to comment. When pressed further on the situation, the city solicitor declined to give any further information and rejected an interview, but rather told the reporter to “visit the court next week” on grounds that since last year when the drugs were arrested, the Court has not printed the arrest warrant and other documents concerning the case.
“The document on the arrest is still in the computer. We have not printed them since last year,” he said.
A source provided our reporter with the arrest warrant issued by the court. The warrant shows that after the LDEA filed a formal complaint with the magisterial court, all consignments of drugs were moved to the court premises and the court issued an arrest warrant for Kpahn Seika, Anderson Karnah, and Asata Kieta, all of Nimba County. The three defendants were charged with illegal possession of unlicensed drugs and criminal facilitation, according to the writ of an arrest warrant issued on the 2nd of October, 2023, a copy of which is in our possession.
The arrest warrant read: “… you the above-named defendants’ houses were searched based on a search warrant issued by the Karnplay Magisterial Court and as a result nineteen (19) cartons of purported pharmaceutical drugs sealed up in plastic paper valued at $700,000 USD were found and seized from defendant Koahn Siaka’s house in Yesplay Town, Nimba County.”
The warrant further states that while investigating the circumstances surrounding the drugs, defendant Asata Kieta appeared before the security and claimed ownership of the drugs and thereafter escaped from the police under the pretense that she was going to the latrine. Further, defendants Kpahn Seika, in whose house sixteen (16) cartons of the drugs were found, and Anderson Karnah, in whose house three (3) cartons were found in Yeaplay Town, refused to cooperate with the security in the investigation.
“There and then you, the defendants, had committed the crimes herein about in violation of section 114.107 of the Drugs Control Law of Liberia,” the court’s warrant reads. The court’s declaration that 19, 16, and 3 cartons of pharmaceutical drugs were found with the three suspects conflicts with the Karnplay City Solicitor Joseph Duo’s earlier comments that the total consignment amounts to 19 cartons.
City Solicitor Joseph Duo later told our reporter in another conversation that the drugs were released to the three suspects and have been moved to the Ivory Coast.
We reached out to the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA) to verify City Solicitor Duo’s claim that the defendants — Kpahn Seika, Anderson Karnah, and Asata Kieta — are licensed to import drugs but found out this is untrue. We checked with the LMHRA and found that the three do not own any pharmacies in Liberia, but sources say they are just involved with the purchase of donated medicine which they transport across the border to Guinea and Ivory Coast for sale.
Following the news about the release of those drugs, our reporter contacted the Stipendiary Magisterial Cooper Q. Gueh of the Karnplay Magisterial Court, but he refused to provide any document or explanation as to why the court released the drugs. The clerk of the Karnplay Magisterial Court, George Gaye, when asked to view documents related to this case, outrightly rejected the request, saying he had nothing to give out.
The release of the huge consignment of medicine has been condemned by key entities in Nimba, including the joint security in Karnplay City, who all formed part of the arrest, with all of them suggesting a lack of consultation from the court. Pharmacist Jackson Mensah of the Nimba County health team complained that his office and that of the county health team do not know how the drugs were released. “There have been others that have been arrested and were invited to the court. We followed the issue until the end, but the September 3, 2023, arrest and the court decision we have no idea.”
“Drug importers have no knowledge of drugs but they just want to make money. Such people need to be arrested,” he said. Dr. F. Kwo-A-Kpeh Dolo from the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA) also expressed disappointment and frustration with the decision of the court to release the drugs. According to him, the LMHRA delegation visited the court several times but was not allowed to open those cartons.
The Nimba County Commander of the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency, Thomas T. Saye, told our reporter that he along with others had applied efforts to get those medicines from the court, but the court refused and released them to the cross-border traders. During a visit by a reporter in Yeaplay Town around Karnplay City, the citizens expressed disappointment and frustration that the various health facilities in the area lack drugs for curable diseases, but they regularly see pharmaceutical drugs enter their town by business people who transport the medicines to Ivory Coast and Guinea.
“Brother, it was good you came but don’t call my name oo.. towns and villages around the border with lines here have been used to transport drugs to Ivory Coast.” They said it was them who informed the LDEA about the “56 cartons” of pharmaceutical drugs that were brought into the town. They insisted that drugs were placed in 56 cartons and not 19 as stated by the Karnplay City Solicitor.
International donors, including the U.S. Government, donate enough HIV, TB, and malaria medication to Liberia to help every citizen who needs treatment, along with many other essential medical products. However, drug stock-outs due to theft through corruption and weak supply chain management prevent these critical, potentially lifesaving resources from reaching Liberians who need them.