A missing service weapon, a barricaded house, and a decades-old wound over police killings have turned a protest over a cocaine bust into something far more combustible: a public, personal standoff between Liberia’s top cop and the man leading calls to find out who the US$19 million shipment really belonged to.
By Emmanuel Conway and Jaheim T. Tumu
Monrovia — A war of words has broken out between Col. Gregory Coleman, Liberia’s Inspector General of Police, and Mulbah Morlu, the man behind Friday’s “Lead or Leave” protest, which gave the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency 48 hours to publicly name everyone connected to the reported US$19 million cocaine seizure at Roberts International Airport.
At the center of the dispute: a firearm police say was stolen from one of their officers during the demonstration.
‘Morlu, Bring That Gun’
Coleman called a press conference after the protest, visibly angry, demanding the weapon’s return. “Morlu, bring that gun,” he said. “It constitutes a criminal offense. We know you got it — and you must bring it now, now, now! The LNP is taking all the necessary and legal measures to recover that firearm. We know where it is, we know who has it — and this is a direct warning — that it must be turned over immediately.” He called the incident “a serious criminal offense that threatens public safety.”
Morlu’s account is different. He says the man Coleman is calling an officer had infiltrated the protest in plain clothes, armed and unidentified, and that his own security team disarmed him without incident. “The man you are calling an ‘officer’ at last Friday’s protest was found deep inside the protest, pretending to be a STAND protester, while carrying a loaded firearm, dressed in civilian clothes, with no police uniform and no visible identification — criminally posing as a protester,” Morlu said. “Our crowd control team discovered him, safely disarmed him without violence, prevented what could have become a bloodbath, and immediately announced publicly, before the press on the protest ground, that the weapon would be handed over today to the international community, in the presence of independent witnesses. That is why you are angry. That is why you are overreacting. Because you lied that we were armed, and the plain-clothes criminal you sent to enforce your lie was exposed.”
‘Will Never Fear Lawless Police,’ Morlu Says
The exchange escalated from there. Morlu accused Coleman of shielding drug traffickers while going after ordinary citizens, and said police had surrounded his home. “I will never fear a lawless police commander like you, even if you bring war-tanks to surround my home,” he said. “Barricading my house with armed police only confirms that yesterday’s peaceful protest struck a nerve by exposing the drug cartel you are alleged to be protecting.”
He rejected any suggestion that Friday’s protest had been headed toward violence. “I am not a violent man, and you know it. The only firearm connected to yesterday’s protest is the one carried by your disguised rogue ‘officer.’”
Speaking separately to FrontPageAfrica, Morlu said the firearm was seized from a man he identified as Ernest Labla, whom he alleged is an Emergency Response Unit (ERU) officer assigned to the residence of Liberia National Police Inspector General Gregory Coleman.
Morlu claimed Labla had infiltrated the protest disguised as a participant, wearing no police uniform, badge, or identification.
“He even managed to get very close to me at one point, according to our crowd control experts,” Morlu said. “He walked with the protesters and, at another point, even acted like a journalist.”
Morlu said members of STAND’s crowd control team became suspicious of the man, approached him for questioning, and discovered he was carrying a firearm.
“They asked him to surrender the weapon. With so many protesters and crowd control guards around, he did not resist and handed it over,” Morlu said. “When the guards contacted me, I instructed them to let him go because I had planned to display the weapon at the protest grounds and turn it over to the authorities the following day.”
Morlu said he had refused to hand over any weapon overnight out of fear for his safety, but would do so in daylight, in front of witnesses, as promised. He went further still, invoking two of the most painful flashpoints in recent memory between Liberian police and protesters: the 2024 Kinjor mining protest, in which two demonstrators were shot dead by police, and the 2025 killing of Matthew Mulbah, a mentally ill man shot by officers his own family had called for help. “If you or Joe Boakai intend to kill me like you allegedly murdered Matthew Mulbah and the Kinjor protesters, it will be in broad daylight, where I will see the face of the assassin who pulls the trigger,” he said.
Police Search, Arrest and Release
Early Saturday, police declared Morlu wanted for allegedly possessing the firearm and reportedly surrounded his residence with a search-and-seizure warrant.
Following his arrest, Morlu briefly appeared before the Paynesville Magisterial Court before being taken to LNP headquarters for questioning.
Hours later, he was released into the custody of his lawyer.
Speaking after his release, Morlu maintained that he had committed no crime.
“We did nothing wrong,” he told reporters. “They have threatened the lives of innocent citizens and protesters. We should have been commended instead of being invited to the police station.”
He added: “I’m always cooperating. I’m a law-abiding citizen. I’m not a criminal.”
Morlu said he deliberately delayed surrendering the firearm until daylight to avoid confusion during the protest.
Coleman: Morlu Cooperated
Inspector General Coleman later confirmed that the firearm had been surrendered voluntarily.
“We had an issue with an officer who was assaulted. His weapon was confiscated from him by a known individual and was later seen with Chairman Morlu,” Coleman said.
According to Coleman, police first requested that Morlu return the firearm voluntarily before obtaining a search warrant.
“We didn’t even have to search. He turned the weapon over, and we asked him to come in to explain to us how he got it.”
Coleman described Morlu as cooperative and said investigators do not consider him a flight risk.
“The investigation is ongoing at this point in time, but he has been extremely cooperative, and we’re just following the law as it is. There’s absolutely nothing for anyone to worry about.”
A Protest Born of Secrecy
Friday’s demonstration came amid mounting frustration that the investigation into one of Liberia’s largest-ever narcotics seizures remains, in the protesters’ view, shrouded in secrecy. In a statement issued ahead of the march, the civil society coalition STAND said the public still has no idea who is actually behind the shipment. “We reject as inadequate the LDEA’s justification that this matter involves ‘transnational organized crime’ and therefore requires prolonged secrecy,” the group said. “Such explanations cannot become a cover for withholding critical information from the public.” The continued delay in naming suspects, STAND argued, feeds a legitimate fear that powerful people are being shielded by political or financial connections — a fear that, if unaddressed, “threatens public confidence in the integrity of the investigation.”
STAND called on the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and other international partners to back an independent investigation, warning that Liberia risks becoming a major West African transit hub for narcotics if the case isn’t run to ground. The coalition — which says it represents 37 civil society groups, political organizations, student movements and community associations — said it wants the same scrutiny applied to owners, financiers and beneficiaries of the shipment as has so far been applied to the lower-level suspects already in custody. “Justice must be blind to wealth, status, influence, and political affiliation,” the group said.
Protesters had already pushed back before Friday on a separate claim from Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah, who said demonstrators were planning to use petrol bombs — an accusation STAND called “a recycled lie” echoing an earlier, similarly unfounded claim from Coleman that protesters were distributing illegal firearms. “It is an utter disgrace that these officials have sunk so low, repeatedly serving as serial purveyors of falsehoods in a desperate and cowardly attempt to smear, intimidate, and criminalize unarmed and peaceful protesters,” the group said.
Legal Backing, and a Standoff at the Gates
The protest drew a notable endorsement from constitutional lawyer Tiawan Saye Gongloe, who called on President Boakai to personally receive the protesters’ petition at the Executive Mansion, arguing peaceful assembly is a constitutional right that shouldn’t be in dispute. His comments came after Coleman declared the presidential compound a “no go zone” for the demonstration and police strung barbed wire across the approach roads ahead of the march.
“I call upon President Boakai to receive the protest. There should not be any disagreement on that,” Gongloe said on his podcast, calling Coleman’s restriction “provocative.” Coleman, for his part, insisted the measures were necessary to protect public order and state institutions, and urged demonstrators to “remain within the approved routes and designated assembly area while cooperating fully with officers deployed.”
Morlu signaled he had no intention of honoring the restriction. “Let no one fool you; we will go on the grounds of the Executive Mansion because using that ground has never been an issue and should not be one today,” he said. “This is the same place where Jeremiah Koung, Gregory Coleman, Joseph Boakai, and others once protested. The Executive Mansion belongs to the Liberian people. It is not anyone’s private residence, and no one has the authority to stop citizens from exercising their constitutional rights.”
Most of the marchers — largely young, dressed in black — kept their focus on the drug case itself, demanding a full and transparent inquiry into the roughly US$19.2 million cocaine seizure at Roberts International Airport in Margibi County. Security forces monitored key routes through Monrovia throughout the day. As of press time, no major incidents had been reported.
