By: Nicholas Bass
Defense lawyer Lamin J. Darboe questioned the credibility of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency (DLEAG) before Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of Banjul High Court on Monday during the sitting of the international cocaine drug case involving four (4) Portuguese nationals and five (5) Gambians.
His challenge to the agency arose when PW4 for State, Momodou Yahya Jallow, under-crossed examination and said the 26,950 euros recovered from Yahya K Jatta were counted without an independent witness.
The State witness, Momodou Yahya Jallow, said when the seventh (7) accused, Jatta, was interrogated by joint investigations, he led the investigators to where he kept 26,950 euros, which according to him was given to Lamin Gassama, the Director of Intelligence of DLEAG.
When asked by defense lawyer S. Bah about the sixth accused, Lamin Ceesay, regarding if drugs were recovered from his client, he responded in the negative, saying nothing was recovered from him. But explained that the vehicle Lamin Ceesay drove at the Banjul Airport was impounded by investigators.
Meanwhile, the court record in count one read that Vilmar Cabral Roel, Ana Patricia Dos Santos Furtodos, Simara Nadiya Martins, and Miriam Maria Mendes on or about the 29th day of June 2024 at Banjul International Airport in West Coast Region of The Gambia and within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, allegedly had 33kg and 600g of cocaine for trafficking.
The particulars of count two revealed that Vilmar Cabral Roel, Ana Patricia Dos Santos Furtodos, Simara Nadiya Martins, Miram Maria Mendes, Seedy Ceesay, Lamin Ceesay, Yaya K. Jatta, Modou Bojang, and Muhammed Jallow on or about the 29th day of June 2024 at Banjul International Airport in West Coast Region of The Gambia and within the jurisdiction of this honourable court were dealing in prohibited drug and were allegedly involved in the transportation of a prohibited drug.
