Nimba County — Over 200 inmates, including those awaiting judgment, have protested at the Sanniquellie Prison Compound in Sanniquellie City, Nimba County, preventing new suspects from entering the facility.
Some of the protesting inmates who spoke to The NEW DWAN Monday, December 4, said their action is based on government's alleged failure to provide them food and medication besides inhumane treatment they continue to face.
Report says the prison compound was constructed by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) as one of its many Quick Impact Projects. The facility was constructed for 75 persons but currently hosts more than 200 prisoners alongside pre-trial detainees.
Because of the protest, several suspects who were taken to the facility did not have access and are being held at Police withholding cell in Sanniquellie.
The aggrieved prisoners narrated that they had gone out of food for the past six months, surviving only on dry rice.
Meanwhile, several angry young people believed to be drug users in Ganta have attacked officers of the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency, destroying several assets of the agency.
Properties destroyed include a vehicle, office equipment and building hosting the agency in Ganta.
The at-risk youth reportedly converged in huge numbers and blocked entrance to the premises before attacking unarmed LDEA officers that were at work.
The incident followed a search conducted around the St. John River during afternoon hours by LDEA officers based on repeated complaints from residents of Ganta who have suffered harassment from the at-risk youth.
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The Nimba County Commander for the LDEA, Thomas Saye, told reporters that his officers had gone to the riverbank to search for those drug users who community dwellers complained about.
Commander Saye narrates that during the search, they saw the at-risk youth taking in drugs, but they quickly fled to neighboring Guinea where one of their colleagues reportedly drowned in the process, a situation that led to the revenge attack on the agency, including some of his men.
He notes that the attackers used deadly weapons, including stones and sticks.
There has been no arrest following the incident and no casualty reported.
The NEW DAWN gathers that huge population of young people in Ganta are involved with drugs activities, including sale and consumption.
