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Gambia: Drug Peddler in Hot Soup
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The Daily Observer (Banjul)
20 June 2008
Posted to the web 23 June 2008
Amadou Jallow
Juka Colley, a native of Sareh Samba Village, Lower River Region, was recently paraded at the Brikama Magistrates Court, charged with the possession of illicit drug (cannabis), contrary to the Drug Control Act of The Gambia.
Testifying before Senior Magistrate EF M'Bai, an officer of the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA), Modou Lamin Sanyang, who is attached to Jarra Soma Police Station, told the court that Mr Colley was arrested on December 9, last year, during a patrol by some officers at Sareh Samba, a village near Jarra Soma.
Sanyang recalled that they had found the suspect smoking cannabis sativa at his house, upon their arrival at the village. "We got him under control and later conducted a search in his house," he told the court, adding that the trawl led them to discovering a bag loaded with some quantities of cannabis.
The NDEA agent said that the accused was then arrested on the spot and taken to Jarra Soma Police Station, where he was cautioned and charged accordingly, in the presence of an independent witness. He said the accused was later escorted to the NDEA Headquarters in Banjul in order to weigh and measure quantities of the cannabis recovered, noting that samples were also taken to a lab, and a certificate and an analytical reports issued afterwards.
The NDEA prosecutor, NCA (1) Ceesay, then applied to tender the certificate and the analytical report, as the accused person adamantly maintained that he was not guilty. Colley informed the court that he was subjected to intimidation by the officers who wanted him to claim ownership of the illicit drug or risk confiscation of his house.
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But the presiding magistrate admitted and marked the two reports as exhibits. The trial was then adjourned to June 26, for continuation of the proceedings.
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