By Nasratu Kargbo
The Inspector General of Police William Fayia Sellu has said that the country’s cyber lab is the second best in Africa after South Africa and has called on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and members of the public to report cyber threats.
IGP Sellu made this call on the 1st August 2023 during a dialogue convened by Fambul Tok International for CSOs and the security sector to address concerns around the actions of political parties, police, election observers and rights-based groups.
He stated that they look forward to complaints on threats; having observed a lot of crime during the elections. The IGP said: “I want to assure you, when you face such threats do not hesitate to report them at CID headquarters or any police station”. He however noted that it takes time to get to the perpetrator due to their crafty nature of using different unregistered sim cards amongst others.
He explained that they can track invectives and insulting messages even if they’ve been deleted three months after the complaint is made. He said the government invested hugely in ensuring the lab is top notch to increase the SLP’s capacity to investigate and charge these perpetrators.
“When you use your phone to cause mischief to other people, the moment we have your number and put it in the system, we will locate you wherever you are” Sellu said. He said their system gives the exact latitude and longitude at a specific period.
He said one of the challenges they face as officers is compromise, explaining that some complainants end up not pursuing the case any further due to the perpetrator being a family member or someone they know.
The IGP added that sometimes cybercrime offenders who commit crimes such as intimidation, threats will be fined between thirty million and fifty million New Leones, jail term or both. He stated cybercrime cases go straight to high court.
Executive Director Fambul Tok International John Caulker said they are a peace building organization and that they have been following up with conversations on social media.
He said the engagement was for a frank dialogue between the CSOs and the security sector, noting that the meeting was to ensure that recommendations are made to solve their problems.
“There is no way a Civil Society will operate without a safe environment” adding that for that to happen the security need to protect the space for them to do their jobs.
The signing of a communiqué by the stakeholders climaxed the event.
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