The dismissed Deputy Managing Director for Operations of the Liberia Airport Authority (LAA), Mr. Mark Egon Kuiah, has been charged with eleven (11) drug-related crimes including unlicensed possession of drugs, unlicensed importation of drugs, unlicensed exportation of drugs, unlicensed sale, trading, administration, delivery, distribution, and dispatch of drugs, illicit trafficking, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, money laundering, among others.
Two high-profile names have also popped up in the official indictment of Mr. Mark Egon Kuiah. They are Abner Wanah Yonly Sr., the Manager of the James Spriggs Payne Regional Airport, and. Augustine Claudius Tamba, the Deputy Director for Technical Affairs at the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority (LCAA).
Excerpt from Mark Egon Kuiah’s indictment:
“…Mr. Mark Egon Kuiah, the former Deputy Managing Director for Operations at the Liberia Airport Authority (LAA), was approached and recruited by Mr. Caycee L. Nelson, the former Procurement Director at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) to join the Cartel trafficking enterprise. After recruiting him, Mr. Kuiah accepted to join the Cartel trafficking enterprise and proposed US$250,000 as compensation for his services. Mr. Kuiah then requested a partial payment of US$50,000. The Cartel paid Kuiah US$50,000 as advance payment. After Kuiah received the advance payment of US$50,000 from the Cartel, Kuiah himself then became a recruiter for the Drug trafficking enterprise. Mr. Mark Kuiah went ahead to recruit Mr. Augustine Claudius Tamba, the Deputy Director-General for Technical Affairs of the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority. Mr. Kuiah also proceeded to recruit Mr. Abner Wanah Yonly Sr., the Airport Manager of the James Spriggs Payne Regional Airport in Sinkor, Monrovia. The Cartel first gave one cellphone to Mr. Kuiah for their communication purposes. Mr. Kuiah again received two more cellphones from the Cartel trafficking enterprise and then gave one of each to Mr. Abner Wanah Yonly Sr. and Mr. Augustine Claudius Tamba. Mr. Kuiah knew and had reasons to know that the drug Cartel trafficking trade was to import cocaine into Liberia for storage, transportation, exportation out of Liberia to Europe and other destinations, and accepted to provide the required assistance for the agreed fees of US$250,000.”
It can be recalled that one of Kuiah’s recruits, Abner Wanah Yonly Sr., age 40, was the US-based Liberian who piloted a a solo flight from the USA and landed at the James Spriggs Payne Airport on Thursday, November 23, 2023.
This is a developing story.
