Gambian police detectives have arrested a Senegalese fugitive, who was linked to the recent Old Jeshwang robbery incident, in which a Lebanese businessman was robbed 16 million dalasis, Freedom Newspaper can authoritatively report. The Senegalese fugitive identified as one Dam Sey, was earlier held by the Senegalese police, which prompted Banjul to dispatch its officers to Dakar, Senegal, to receive the arrested fugitive.
Police Detective Assistant Superintendent Sanusi Darboe was the officer, who led The Gambian Detective team to pursue Dam Sey in Dakar. ASP Darboe and his men arrived in Banjul today before close of business.
The accused Dam Sey was in handcuff when he was being escorted to the Serious Crime Unit at the police headquarters today.
Sources close to the Dakar mission have intimated that so far, their preliminary investigations have implicated a TOP OFFICER of the police command. The officer in question was reported to be in “contact” with the robbers “prior, during and after the robbery,” as phone records have indicated, a trusted source in the HEART of the police command told me.
However, the police Spokesman Superintendent Lamin Njie has rejected such assertions. He said he is not aware of any phone record(s) that link any officer of the force into the alleged robbery. Njie describes the information as “fake news” that was in circulation on social media.
As claims and counter claims continue to grip the police headquarters, another source told me that he doesn’t think the police spokesman is privy to the details of the ongoing robbery probe.
“I have great respect for Spokesman Njie. I don’t think he is trying to coverup. I sincerely believe that he doesn’t know what the investigators have uncovered. He is telling you what he has been told. From what I know, there is a TOP officer of the command, who has been implicated in the robbery. His QCELL and AFRICELL phone numbers have featured in the printouts of the phone records of the arrested robbers. In fact, a visitor pass bearing the contact information of the officer was recovered at the scene of the robbery. There is this allegation that one of the robbers had given money to the implicated officer after the robbery,” our source alleged.
Due to legal ramifications, and the need to observe due process, we have decided to withhold the officer’s name pending the completion of the police probe. The implicated officer still reports to work, he hasn’t been placed on administrative leave despite the damning allegations against him.
One of our trusted sources said the officer concerned is a close buddy of the newly hired Inspector General of police. Our source is not convinced that the implicated officer would be sanctioned as required by the Service Rules and Regulations.
However, the police spokesman Lamin Njie has told me in a phone interview that The Gambia police force has zero tolerance for corruption and any officer linked to corrupt practices would face the full brunt of law. Njie went as far as challenging those pointing corruption allegations against members of the force to come forward to file a complaint. He said there wouldn’t be no sacred cows as far as issues relating to the upholding and protection of the fine values of the force are concerned. He added that the force had in the past prosecuted officers accused of corruption.
Njie said some of the robbery suspects have been charged, and their case had been mentioned in court. Njie didn’t mention the names of the accused persons and the court they are being tried. He pointed out that investigations into the robbery case are still ongoing.
A top officer of the force, who spoke to us on condition of strict anonymity, said he has seen the Lebanese robbery complainant at the IGP office this past week. The same officer also told us that the police probe doesn’t tell well on the force as one of their top officers has been implicated.
“The Lebanese man came here to see the IGP this past week. He was here in connection with the robbery incident that happened at his home. He has been proactive when it comes to pursuing his cases, that I can tell you,” the top officer told me.
“Besides the robbery case, the implicated officer has also been accused of acting in concert with log smugglers. Each time a log container is shipped from the ports of Banjul to China, he is paid $5000 dollars, I was told that,” our source alleged.
The implicated officer concerned had in the past years, during Jammeh’s rule, accused the former Inspector General of police Essa Badjie of working with armed robbers. Shockingly, he has caught up with a similar allegation today. Jesus Badjie was convicted and sentenced.
It is not clear if the implicated officer would be tried under Barrow’s rule, a regime that has been accused of being weak in fighting official corruption. But time will tell.
Meanwhile, robbery suspect Dam Sey is helping the Serious Crime in their investigations.
It would be recalled that the Lebanese businessman told the local press that he was robbed by unknown armed men. His home was stormed by the robbers, where he and his family were terrorized. He said he was tortured by the robbers, his kids held hostage, before he was forced to surrender his safe to the robbers.