Alleged Plastic Bag Dealer Appears in Court 

By Dawda M. Jallow

An alleged plastic bag dealer Mustapha Jobe was on Wednesday arraigned for dealing in banned plastic bags. 

The prosecution charged Mustapha Jobe with “importation of banned plastic bags”, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Ban on Plastic Bags Order, 2013. 

The particulars of the alleged offence read that Mustapha sometime in August, 2023, at Serekunda, wilfully engaged in the “importation of banned plastic bags” into the countrywithout any authority, thereby committed an offence. 

The prosecution called a Brusubi resident Yero E. Jallow to testify, who testified that: “On that very day, we were onplastic bags enforcement, an activity done by environmental inspectors. I was with a team of two police officers with two environmental inspectors at Serekunda market. We came around the Serekunda garage and entered into the accused person’s shop, then we introduced ourselves as environmental inspectors and told him that we wanted to conduct a search. At the time of search, the accused Mustapha was not at the shop. As we continued searching, we found huge chunk of plastic bags in his shop.” 

He informed the court that it was confirmed to the inspection team that Mustapha owned the plastic bags.

“Then we started gathering the plastic bags. In the process, Mustapha arrived and I introduced myself to him as an environmental inspector. He admitted the ownership and thenwe went together with him along with the materials to our office,” he explained. The witness continued: “He was asked to bring his ID and someone to bail him. The plastic bags weighed about two to three tons. From there, we handed him to our prosecution.”

The prosecution tendered the said plastic bags into evidence and they were admitted and marked as exhibits. 

The case is set to resume on 6 February 2025, for continuation.