Howard-Tayor faces charges including the unlicensed importation, sale and transportation of controlled drugs, illicit trafficking, criminal solicitation and criminal facilitation.

Police have charged three foreign nationals – two Croatians and one Ukrainian – in absentia as part of their investigation. They are accused of being part of the same network as the former politician.

Liberian Justice Minister Oswald Tweh said the authorities would use domestic and international measures to locate and arrest them.

Liberia has stepped up a crackdown on cocaine trafficking, following two major seizures in June and July.

Almost four tonnes of cocaine believed to be bound for Europe were found during the raid in July.

The authorities described it as Liberia’s biggest drug bust and said it had uncovered a sophisticated transnational trafficking network.

The investigation has since extended to senior figures within Liberia’s security establishment.

The government says its investigations are aimed at identifying not only those directly involved in transporting drugs, but also financiers, organisers and people accused of helping to protect the operation.

“No office is too high, no political connection is too powerful, no nationality provides immunity, and no individual is beyond the reach of the law,” it said in a statement.

West Africa has increasingly been used as a major transit route for cocaine trading from South America to Europe, with traffickers exploiting porous borders and weak enforcement in parts of the region.