Tension is mounting around the world, especially in the West, where stringent measures are being put in place to minimise the importation of dangerous drugs into their countries. The European Union nations are the latest to mount an impenetrable fortress to stop and search cocaine suspects. (Photo: Liberian VP Koung).

Two days ago, the Vice President of Liberia, Mr Jeremiah Kpan Koung Sr., was stopped at Brussels Airport, where officers searched him and his entourage. No-nonsense Belgian customs officers pressed the VP to strip half-naked, removing his shirt as others watched in awe.

Despite his vice president status in Liberia, the Belgian officers were uncompromising: “We do not care.” Diplomatic immunity was thrown out the window in place of searching for drug trafficking suspects from countries like Liberia, noted for the cocaine trade in recent times.

A few weeks ago, the former Vice President of Liberia, Jewel Howard-Taylor, was caught with millions of dollars’ worth of drug smuggling at the Roberts International Airport RIA. Jewel, the former wife of Liberia’s ex-president Charles Taylor, is currently detained facing drug charges in Monrovia. (Photos: Liberian VP Jeremiah Koung during visit in Freetown).

The arrest of Jewel at Brussels Airlines was the biggest red flag that spurred the Belgian officers to pounce on the Liberian delegation led by President Joseph Boakai’s Vice President Koung. Those present included the Liberian Sports Minister and three others.

A Liberian citizen, who was transiting Brussels to travel to the US, witnessed the stop and search of VP Koung. He explained to Liberia’s CBK TV: “I just want to say this to our people. I want to remain unanimous for now. But if they want to deny it, I will come out publicly.

“Yesterday, I was in Brussels trying to come to the US, but the Vice President was publicly disgraced at the airport. When we got out of the Brussels Airlines plane, trying to connect our flights to our various destinations, they had to scan your boarding pass before proceeding to secondary screening.

“With metal detectors in their bags, the security searched the Vice President, the Sports Minister and three other travellers in the Liberian delegation. They were checked for 15 minutes. With all the passports they have as diplomats, they kept them. (Photo: The EU has tightened the screws on drug trafficking).

“At the secondary search, they asked them to take off their belts; they looked inside their passports, and immediately they started speaking French. And I can speak French, so I told them he is the Vice President of our country. The first thing the guy said was, ‘He does not care.’

“I was standing right there and speaking French to them. They told me to tell the VP, Jeremiah Koung, to take off his shirt. But I asked them why he should take off his shirt when we have not taken off our shirts? They immediately called the police, who said the same thing.

“I was asked for my own passport, and I showed them and was asked to leave the site. The only reason why I did not get the video and footage of the incident was that my bag was already in the scanning machine going through the glass. It was shameful,” the Liberian witness noted.

It is no secret that the source of the drug ring today is from neighbouring Sierra Leone, where many consignments of drugs by people smugglers from Sierra Leone have been caught across the Liberian border in recent times. President Boakai invited the FBI and other US agencies to investigate. (Photo: Former VP Jewel, right, in custody on drug charges).

As a result of this latest move by the EU, Bio and his delegation will soon face routine searches at airports henceforth. On Thursday, the EU Parliament voted en masse to sanction Sierra Leone for protecting Europe’s most wanted Dutch drug baron, Jos Leijdekker, who is hiding in bankrupt Sierra Leone.

That is why Bio, who is the father-in-law of Bolle Jos, should expect to be stopped and searched at Western airports, probably starting with the UN visit. No more diplomatic immunity to protect bad politicians like Bio. The game is up, and the restoration of democracy is around the corner.

What took place in Brussels, where the Liberian VP Jeremiah Koung was ambushed and searched so embarrassingly, is a wake-up call for cocaine importers and exporters like Maada Bio to face the airport music and let justice be done for the people of Sierra Leone. The only solution is for the President-elect, Dr Samura Kamara is to be sworn in.