Liberia Suspends Senior Officials Involved in Diamond Smuggling

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 22, 2001

Liberia Suspends Senior Officials Involved in Diamond Smuggling

The Liberian government has suspended two senior officials and detained a Japanese national suspected to be involved in diamond smuggling, according to reports reaching here from Monrovia on Wednesday.

Liberian Justice Minister Eddington Varmah was quoted as saying that the Japanese was detained at Monrovia's international airport last Wednesday after he was found carrying 135,000 U.S. dollars in cash ready for diamond smuggling from Liberia in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed on the country.

"A preliminary probe led to the discovery of an apparent conspiracy by a deputy minister of operations at the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy, Mulbah Willie, and an assistant minister, James Konowa," Varmah said.

The two government officials involved in the illegal diamond trade have been suspended indefinitely and the Japanese detainee is helping the national bureau of investigation with its inquiries, he added.

The Liberian government has suspended the export of rough diamonds and cracked down on "blood diamonds", but in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the U.N. sanctions.

Earlier in May this year, the United Nations Security Council imposed the fierce sanctions on Liberia, accusing the country of being involved in gun-running and diamond smuggling with the Revolutionary United Front rebels that has been fueling war in neighboring Sierra Leone for a decade.

It is said that the trade in the so-called "blood diamonds" could be as high as 125 million dollars annually.