Monrovia — The US$100M cocaine case will be decided after the final arguments between prosecution and defense lawyers before the judge and panel jury at Criminal Court C, at the Temple of Justice at 8:00 am on Thursday, May 18, 2023.
The defendants have been charged with unlicensed importation of controlled drugs trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and criminal facilitation.
The jury, for the past three months, has been listening to testimonies from a total of seven general witnesses and five defense subpoena witnesses.
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.
The jury will bring down their decision after following closing arguments by both the defense lawyers and the prosecution.
During the trial, state prosecution paraded six general witnesses and three rebuttal witnesses, as well as CCTV footage (videos) from one of the defendant's cell phones believed to have contained photos of the containers containing the stockpiles of the cocaine, and a physical testing of the drug in open court to prove to the jurors about the existence of the cocaine allegedly seized from the THR premises on the Somalia drive.
While the defense produced one general witness who testified on behalf of the remaining three defendants and six subpoena witnesses.
The prosecution argument will be based specifically on the testimonies of Samuel Nimely, the general manager of THR, believed to be a whistleblower in the case.
According to Samuel Nimely's testimony, which could be the focus point of the prosecution case, 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," Nimely testified.
While the defense team closing arguments might definitely focus 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 Gablah, publisher of the New Dawn Newspaper.
In his testimony, James Hinneh accused the National Port Authority (NPA) that they did not issue 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, defense fifth rebuttal witness in the ongoing US$100 million 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 violated the custom regulation by shipping the US$100 million cocaine container into the country.
When Othello Gablah testified, he held TRH trading responsible for the shipment of the cocaine container in the country with the assistance of the government.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Gablah, the publisher of the New Dawn Newspaper, said, "Basically, in any given situation, criminals will exploit any weak
Garblah, the publisher of the New Dawn Newspaper, stated that "basically, in any given situation, criminals will exploit any weak system. In this case, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) has admitted that TRH had been given certain privileges allowing them to clear their goods/consignment of containers under an arrangement using mere invoices or bill landing." Witness Gablah testified, "Therefore, any criminal knowing such a system could exploit it."
According to Gablah, prior to the arrival of the container, the Global Maritime Tracking Solution that tracks shipments across the world suggested that the container with the US$100 million cocaine be subjected to a physical inspection, but it was ignored.
Meanwhile, after the final arguments, the jurors will retire to their room of deliberation to bring a verdict in favor or against the defendants.
