A Kenyan woman identified as Larnard Bonancy Arondo has been found guilty on all three counts, including importation of drugs, criminal conspiracy, and facilitation, after attempting to smuggle heroin worth US$388,890 through Roberts International Airport (RIA) in February 2025.
According to a recent press release, the verdict, secured by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), gives the defendant four days to respond. On February 1, 2025, Arondo was intercepted at RIA after arriving on Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET-933 from Thailand. She was found in possession of 8.642 kilograms of heroin, valued at USD 388,890. She was arrested along with Abel S. Gbedia, a Liberian national.
The release said that the conviction of suspect Arondo is good news for many Liberians whose families have suffered from the actions of drug traffickers like her. The current Interim Management Team at the LDEA, headed by DCP Fitzgerald T.M. Biago of the Liberia National Police (LNP) as Officer-in-Charge (OIC), along with Mr. Ernest T. Tarpeh, Assistant Director for Special Services at the NSA, together with the men and women of the Agency, expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the case.
They noted that this achievement reflects their mandate to ensure that all drug-related cases, past and present, are thoroughly pursued to guarantee justice is served.
