|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: A Facebook user claims Liberia’s Vice President was mistreated at the Brussels airport on suspicion of carrying drugs.
Verdict: False! Yekeh Kolubah’s blog has edited the post after DUBAWA contacted the blog to provide evidence for the claim. Also, VP Jeremiah Kpan Koung has clarified that he was never ordered to remove his shoes and jacket at Brussels airport.
Full Text
The Vice President of the Republic of Liberia is in Vienna, Austria, representing President Joseph Boakai at the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The event runs from September 14-18, 2026.
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, a Facebook user, Yekeh Kolubah, in a now-edited post, claimed the Vice President was disgraced at the Brussels airport when security personnel ordered him to take off his shirt so that they could search him for drugs.
“Breaking news! Vice President Jeremiah Koung was allegedly disgraced at Brussels Airport; security reportedly asked him to take off his shirt to search for drugs,” the Facebook user wrote.
“Big embarrassment. After presenting his diplomatic Passport,” the claimant further wrote.
Screenshot of the Facebook user’s initial post.
The Shine Liberia blog also shared the claim.
The claim generated 726 reactions, 269 comments and nine shares at the time of this write-up.
In the comments, DUBAWA observed that some Facebook users believed the post and others doubted it.
Screenshot showing other Facebook users giving diverse responses.
Due to the claim’s sensitivity and the risk of disinforming the public, DUBAWA decided to verify it.
Verification
DUBAWA contacted the claimant via WhatsApp to request evidence, but received no response at the time of writing this fact-check.
A screenshot of the WhatsApp chat.
However, after contacting the claimant, DUBAWA discovered that they had edited the post. The claimant wrote, “Breaking News! Vice President Jeremiah Koung.”
Screenshot of the claimant’s edited post.
But the claim had gone viral, and other Facebook users, like Shine Liberia, had reshared it, so DUBAWA still verified it.
The researcher contacted the Office of the Vice President to confirm the claim’s veracity; the Vice President soon responded on his official Facebook page, clarifying the circumstances surrounding his trip.
In the post, VP Koung said he took a regular route everyone uses because he wanted to pick up a few things from duty-free stores for his daughter. He confirmed that his shoes and clothes were not removed as claimed.
“In 2024, I flew on a private jet belonging to a friend of mine, free of charge, and there were issues and discussions,” he wrote.
“This trip, I chose to use the regular route that everyone uses to pick up a few things for my daughter from the duty-free stores, and again there are discussions. No shoes, no jacket was removed,” he clarified.
Screenshot of VP Koung’s post.
Conclusion
Contrary to the Facebook user’s claim, the VP was not disgraced, as he was never stripped of his personal effects. Therefore, the claim is false.