By Mustapha Jarju
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested Lamin Jarjou whom they described as a ‘notorious’ drug trafficker with suspected cannabis at Kololi New Road around Kadi restaurant.
According to DLEAG, Lamin Jarjou is no stranger to anti-narcotic officers, adding “he is among the most notorious drug dealers and traffickers in the country. The agency had apprehended him on several occasions with huge quantities of suspected prohibited and controlled drugs. In some instances, he had been arrested while on court bail.”
“His last encounter with anti-narcotics officers was on the 29 October 2020 around 18:00 hours GMT onwards. It so happened that operatives together with Mobile Traffic Officers decided to set up a vehicle checkpoint Old Yundum after they received a tip off information that he had gone to the bush to collect suspected prohibited drugs.
“Upon citing the officers at the checkpoint, Lamin Jarju failed to stop and he drove off at top speed thereby endangering other road users and pedestrians. He recklessly drove his vehicle from Old Yundum Police Station to Sukuta Traffic Light through Brusubi turntable (the round-about) to Kololi Tavern. An officer who swiftly responded and jumped on top of his vehicle was all throughout this reckless adventure on top of the vehicle. He deliberately failed to stop and adhere to the officer’s call for him to stop the vehicle. On that occasion, he was using a Mercedes Benz C Class with registration number BJL 8063,” DLEAG added.
“Prior to the incident on the 29 October 2020, Lamin Jarju had been convicted for the possession of prohibited drugs contrary to section 43(4)e of DCA 2003. He was found guilty and convicted to a fine D100, 000. The fine was to be paid in two instalments (October and November 2020 respectively).
The report concluded that “similarly, a sum of D89,700.00 that he, Lamin Jarju was arrested with and found to be proceeds from illicit drug trafficking was forfeited to the state together with a Mercedes Benz BJL1677 Q. He was even said to be on court bail at the time of the incident in old Yundum. Lamin Jarjou and his ilk are the types of ardent notorious perpetrators whose cases need to be given due consideration and examples set for posterity. It sets a bad precedence for society to continually see such notorious people regularly being arrested only for them to return back to society. We need to apply the maximum penalty in such cases as a means of deterring others. Otherwise, it becomes an endless repeated cycle and the purpose and goal of protecting society from such people is defeated.”