By Saio Marrah
Idrissa Jalloh and Mamadou Samba Jalloh as the third and fourth accused respectively are among the other three accused being prosecuted for the importation of a substance suspected to be used in the manufacturing of the prohibited drug, Kush.
The accused appeared before Magistrate Mark Ngegba at the Pademba Road Court NO.1 last Wednesday, 20th September 2023.
After a testimony by the fifth prosecution witness (PW5), Detective Sergeant Peter Sellu Bangura attached at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID Head Quarters in Freetown, the Defence lawyer, Claudius Campbell, representing the third and fourth accused, cross-examined (PW5).
Campbell pointed out that the third and fourth accused were commercial drivers (taxi) who had no idea of the substance contained in the cartoon found in their vehicles. The PW5 affirmed the said declarative statement by saying “yes.”
However, the PW5 responded saying, “I cannot tell” to a question asked by Campbell, who said, “Is it the duty of the commercial driver to search what is contained in the bag of the passenger?”
Campbell also represented the second accused, Mallal Bah.
PW5 had earlier told the court that as an investigator; he was instructed to obtain cautionary statements from the accused after which he prepared charge statements of all the five accused as well.
The Preliminary Investigation was on this day committed to the High Court for trial.
In subsequent proceedings, a Parliamentarian, who is also a Defence Lawyer, Hindolo Moiwo Gavao representing the first and fifth accused, Fatmata Bangura and Bai Bangura respectively, had made bail applications for the first accused.
Gavao said the first accused is the wife of the fifth accused and that the two have a seven-year-old child, pleading on the bench to release the wife on bail because she is a caregiver.
He succeeded in bailing the first accused.
PW1, Amos Foday Ngewuja had earlier told the court that, on the 19th of August this year, he was deployed at the Gbalamoya customs checkpoint in the Kambia district. At about 900 hours, the third accused drove a vehicle to the checkpoint and met him there together with another officer.
''I asked the accused to come down from the car and told him to open the boot of the car, when I opened the boot I saw some cartoons inside and asked the accused about the content of the cartoon, but he replied that they were tea leaves,” said PW1.
According to him, he told the third accused to open the teabags for him to see but the third accused told him that he was not the owner of the cartoon so he would not open it.
''I then told him that if he did not open the cartoon, he would not cross-pass the checkpoint. I then called some of my colleagues who were working at the checkpoint with me and gave them the information. Later, we opened the cartoon and saw a substance suspected to be Kush. Thereafter, we removed the cartoon from the vehicle and took it to our search room and called another officer to see what was in the cartoon'', he noted.
He said the items were handed over to the TOCU officers who took them to the Kambia police station where he made statements.
During cross-examination by Campbell, PW1 said he knew two types of tea leaves.
When he was asked as to whether some tea leaves were strange to him, he said they were not.
PW2, Sergeant Abdul Sandy also said he was attached to the Gbalamoya checkpoint.
He said between the 1st and 19th August 2023, he was on duty at the checkpoint when he saw the fourth accused driving a vehicle approaching the checkpoint. PW2 said he instructed the fourth accused to open the boot which he did.
He said they (security forces) discovered some cartoons inside and asked the accused what was in the cartoon but the accused told them that they were tea leaves.
According to PW2, when the fourth accused opened the cartoon, he saw a green substance suspected to be Kush, and the accused was arrested and brought to the Kambia police station.
Campbell, in his cross-examination, told PW2 that he arrested the fourth accused because the color of the tea leaves was strange to him. He replied in the affirmative.
The five accused are charged with six counts ranging from conspiracy to importation of substance used to produce prohibited drugs commonly known as Kush.
The court was informed that between the 1st and 19th of August 2023, they imported three paper bags of a substance to wit, a Marshmallow weighing 240 kilograms contained in a brown cartoon, suspected to be used in the manufacturing of synthetic cannabinoid also known as Kush from Conakry Guinea to Sierra Leone, without lawful authority.
According to Police, PW3 and 4 between the 1st and 19th August 2023, transported the three paper bags of substance, using their respective cars, Peugeot with registration No: AE 4685 and Toyota Corolla with registration No: RC 6582 from Conakry to Pamlap Customs without lawful authority.
The fifth accused, Bai Bangura, was alleged to have on the same date at Goderich in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Lane, found in possession of 18 containers(robber) of Acetone (100) chemical that is alleged to be used for manufacturing of synthetic cannabinoid also known as Kush without lawful authority.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (25/09/23)
