Kwarbo, who claimed that Coleman personally instructed him to escort a vehicle carrying the narcotics, has meanwhile, challenged investigators to examine his telephone records to establish whether Coleman contacted him before the escort operation chronicle was unearthed.
Former Liberia National Police (LNP) highway patrol chief, Wadell W. Kwarbo, has alleged that it was Police Inspector General (IG) Gregory O. W. Coleman that ordered him to escort huge consignment of drugs with police assigned siren van to a secret location in the suburb of Monrovia.
Kwarbo is detained in connection with the record cocaine investigation.
He claimed that Coleman personally instructed him to escort a vehicle carrying the narcotics.
In an interview with Spoon FM, Kwarbo, rejected the suggestion that he independently decided to provide police protection for the shipment of the drugs.
In his account, Kwarbo said, he was acting on an instruction from a superior officer, adding: “Police IG Gregory Coleman ordered me to escort the items with the van.”
Though, Coleman is yet to speak to Kwarbo’s statement, the allegation, if supported by independent evidence, could widen the focus of the investigation. It would raise questions about the chain of command within LNP, and whether the alleged use of police vehicles was the action of individual officers, or part of a higher-level directive.
Kwarbo has challenged investigators to examine his telephone records.
He argued that his call logs could establish whether Coleman contacted him before the escort operation saga was unearthed.
He also urged authorities to subpoena the records, and use them as part of the ongoing investigation.
He also referred to a written statement that he says, is already in the possession of investigators.
He wants that statement examined alongside his telephone records to determine what instructions were communicated, when they were communicated, and who gave them to him?
The claim is particularly significant, “because police authorities have previously alleged that marked LNP vehicles were used in the movement of the cocaine.”
Coleman has publicly identified Kwarbo, and another police commander, as officers involved in escorting the narcotics using police vehicles.
Kwarbo’s latest account meanwhile, places the question of authorization at the center of the case.
If investigators establish that a senior officer ordered the escort, the inquiry could move beyond the conduct of individual officers to the circumstances under which police personnel, and government vehicles were deployed.
However, Kwarbo’s claim remains an allegation made by a defendant in an ongoing criminal investigation.
It has not been independently established, and the allegation should not be treated as proof that Coleman issued such an order.
The evidence investigators could examine includes call-detail records, text messages, police deployment orders, vehicle movement records, radio communications, written statements, CCTV footage, witness testimony, and other operational documents.
The controversy stems from the July 21 seizure in Duazon, Margibi County, where authorities recovered approximately 3,971 kilograms of suspected cocaine, with an estimated street value of about US$317.68 million.
