Liberian warlord's son arrested in Miami (Charles Taylor, Jr.) [View All]

[seafan]

Liberian warlord's son arrested in Miami

BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND JACQUELINE CHARLES

Mar. 31, 2006


The man who ran Liberia's brutal presidential guard for his father, warlord Charles Taylor, is behind bars in Miami, accused of trying to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport, the Justice Department said Friday.
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, son of the former Liberian president, was stopped at Miami International Airport for making a ''false statement'' in an effort to get a U.S. passport.
Also known as Charles ''Chuckie'' Taylor, Jr., the 29-year-old has been banned by the United Nations, which is leading a 15,000 peacekeeping force in Liberia, from traveling to the West African nation.

The younger Taylor's arrest Thursday night after arriving in Miami from Trinidad came two days after his father -- who plunged Liberia into a 14-year civil war that killed thousands -- was flown to Sierra Leone to face war crimes charges in international court.
The former warlord is accused of fueling Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war, and faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The criminal complaint filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in U.S. federal court reveals Taylor Jr. has been the subject of an extensive investigation in which several people were interviewed in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Among them were his mother, Bernice Yolanda Emmanuel and Trinidadian-born stepfather Roy Belfast.

When Taylor became president in 1997, he appointed his son as head of his elite presidential security force, the Anti-Terrorist Unit, Bernice Emmanuel told investigators.

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14236410.htm