MONROVIA — Alleged female drug trafficker, Rita Sata Williams, has spent her first night in prison, pending trial, after being forwarded for prosecution for alleged drug trafficking.
Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) on Tuesday forwarded 56-year-old Defendant Williams to court on charges of illicit trafficking, sale, distribution, and possession of controlled drugs.
According to the court document, Defendant Williams was on June 15, 2024 arrested at the Klay Check Point along the Bomi Highway by an officer of the LDEA with a morrow suitcase containing 1.9 kilograms of substances believed to be cocaine, valued at US$102,600.00.
The document noted that following her arrest, Defendant Williams was investigated and found culpable for having illicit drugs.
Defendant Williams is said to be a Liberian citizen but resides in the Netherlands, and owner and CEO of the Euphrates Enterprise, a dealer in household, office, and electronic materials at the ELWA Highway.
The court document noted that during the LDEA preliminary investigation, Defendant Williams admitted to the crimes, but alleged that the substances which were tested and established as cocaine, were brought into the country by her, from Guinea through a Nigerian national whose name is not in the court record.
The court document further maintained that the LDEA investigation further revealed the value of the cocaine worth US$102,600 or its equivalents in Liberian currency at L$ 19,494,000.
Therefore, the LDEA noted that the physical evidence of 1.9 kilograms of cocaine was seized, following its discovery with Defendant Williams. The LDEA, as a statutory investigative and intelligent security entity in Liberia said it was left with no alternative, but to charge the suspect with the crime of unlicensed, sale, delivery, distribution, dispatched in transit and transporting of controlled drug in violation of Sections 14.85, 14.89 and 14.93 respectively under schedule as prescribed in 50.5 and 50.6 of the penal law of Liberia pending court’s trial.
