In recent years, the region has become a favoured route for traffickers moving drugs from producing countries in South America to Europe, where the highly lucrative cocaine market has exploded.
Dozens of cocaine packages piled up, weighing in at four tonnes and valued at $317 million -- the seizure by Liberian police in July was a stark symbol of west Africa's expanding role in the global cocaine trade.
In recent years, the region has become a favoured route for traffickers moving drugs from producing countries in South America to Europe, where the highly lucrative cocaine market has exploded.
Drug trafficking is now "one of the greatest threats" facing Liberia, President Joseph Boakai said in a national address in August, after several large-scale seizures.
"Drugs are destroying young lives, weakening families, fuelling violence," he warned.
Politics has been tarnished too. Following the major drugs busts, former Liberian vice president Jewel Howard-Taylor was arrested for alleged involvement in an international drug trafficking network.
But Liberia is by no means unique -- the drugs trafficking scourge is region-wide.
- Regional scourge -
In neighbouring Sierra Leone, one of Europe's most wanted cocaine traffickers, the convicted fugitive Dutchman Jos Leijdekkers, is operating with apparent support from the highest echelons of power, according to law enforcement, local testimonies and court documents gathered by AFP.
