STOLEN VEHICLES FOUND IN WATERLOO SCRAPYARD
The whole country is now waiting to see what the police will do about that obviously criminal scrapyard in Waterloo where stolen vehicles are easily shredded to pieces and sold on the streets of Freetown in bits. In recent times there have been numerous reports of cars stolen across Freetown in particular in circumstances too difficult to believe. For example, a man parked his Toyota RAV 4 vehicle along Campbell Street, approaching St. John; he went into one of the shops to buy something. He returned about TEN MINUTES later to find the empty space where he parked his car. He raised an alarm and those around told him they actually saw a man drive away in that car.
There was also the case of a senior citizen whose car was stolen from her compound in the west of Freetown and after hours of social media outcry the vehicle was stopped deep inside neighboring Guinea. And there was that Catholic Priest who suffered that same fate at FBC. His vehicles has NEVER been found. We have only mentioned a few among many recent cases.
Now, we believe the people of this country should celebrate because the arrest of that guy at Waterloo represents a big opportunity for the police to smash this criminal ring once and for all.
However, we should make the following points:
1. We understand the man has been in that business for many years, why did it take so long for the police to lay fingers on him? How many of such people do we have operating in other dark corners in this country?
2. How far will this investigation go? We warn the police not to simply scratch the surface and pull back claiming victory. We are absolutely convinced that the man now in their custody is part of a major criminal ring distressing people in this country. They should be put away for a very long time in BONTHE ISLAND PRISON.
3. We have always commented on the existence of scrapyards and their link to cars being stolen on the streets. We have argued before in this column that not every stolen car is taken across the border and that scrapyards should be registered and regulated to stop them being used like the one at Waterloo. Now, we’ve arrived.
4. We are calling attention to the place we know as WATERLOO again. Among the ordinary, hardworking and decent Sierra Leoneans living there are many criminals who have retreated to that dark little corner near Freetown. They have killed soldiers, police officers and ordinary people there but it seems the police would only touch the surface and pull back. We have to do something about Waterloo otherwise there will be no peace in Freetown.
SOMETHING IS HAPPENING BEHIND THE WALLS OF THE CID
Those Sierra Leoneans who’ve been following our reporting of the trial of two people for the alleged murder of 5 year-old Khadija Saccoh may have read a comment by the trial judge about the way police officers treat people they take into custody at the CID. The judge expressed serious concern that people could be locked up in a cell for THREE DAYS WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER. By all definitions this is torture that should land the officers behaving that way before the International Criminal Court.
We have also now heard testimony in the trial from the accused that went into the dock in her own defence, confirming that she wasn’t to bathe for THREE DAYS. Really? How can any police officer explain this kind of behavior? Is that the way to investigate cases?
We should say that we don’t know where the instruction for such behavior comes from but we have heard some names of the most notorious police officers in that place who are clearly incompetent people using torture to crack very simple cases. This is an attack on the nation’s decency and it SHOULD NOT continue.
There are excellent detectives in this country who are aware that they must at all times operate within the law. Those are the people we want in that CID. Those investigators who are incompetent and have had to rely on torture to solve crimes should be sacked and prosecuted. Locking people up for three days without food or water and stopping them from taking their bath is cruel. Very cruel!
SO THE SLFA HAD HALF A MILLION DOLLARS IN THE BANK?
The OWNER of the Sierra Leone Football Association, the woman who makes ALL the decisions in that place woke up within the last 48 hours feeling good about herself and decided to splash some cash around. As far as we know this was her decision. We are waiting for her secretariat to send us a transcript of the meeting of the Executive Committee where the decision to distribute half a million US dollars was taken. We will gladly retract this and apologize – the transcript please.
So this SLFA had half a million dollars in the bank while all those who eventually received a cut from the money have been suffering. It would appear as if this was money that was to be splashed around on the eve of the elective congress which has once again been postponed indefinitely. We know the other force that eventually squeezed the cash out of the SLFA. We will reveal here when we decide to.
We notice that Sports journalists were eliminated this time round. It’s easy to know why - the journalists refused to sing thy praise O queen Johansen. Here was this queen who once said she didn’t need the local media to become great. She always felt extremely comfortable with the international media and would only engage with the local media in HIGHLY SANITIZED radio and TV interviews where the interviewees played softball.
This week we saw something that looks like the expenditure profile of the SLFA. We are checking a few things around that document and we should be able to comment fully before the SLFA elective congress when the queen decides to announce a date. Our intention therefore will be to give the delegates something else to think about when they vote not just their pockets plus beer and stout.
WHERE IS THAT THIEF AT JUBA MOSQUE NOW?
We want the police and the authorities at that mosque in Juba to update us on the issue regarding that thief that became a social media sensation recently. For almost 24 hours, a young thief, probably in his 20s found his head locked within the window bars of the Juba Mosque. He had apparently managed to slide his head in but was neither able to force his entire body through nor slide his head out again. We have no idea what he was aiming to steal from the mosque but many say his case was a clear demonstration of what happens when God decides to act against evil men. The most expensive thing in many mosques is the Public Address system. Is that what he was out to steal?
We hope the police have not allowed him to melt his way into society in another part of this country. A criminal like that should be sitting in jail for many years. He should learn his lessons. We believe he had found in this mosque a very soft target for his daily criminality but that particular evening he was caught, shamed and arrested after welders cut through the bars to free his head in the morning after the night before.
We are waiting for updates please. We want to be sure that our places of worship are safe. Thanks for your help.
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