By Omar Bah
Police spokesperson Superintendent Lamin Njie has confirmed to The Standard the arrest of at least two soldiers of the Ecomig force and several others for holding a birthday party during the nightly curfew hours.
Superintendent Njie said 22 individuals where arrested together with the proprietor of the venue were the birthday bash was held.
He said among the arrested people were two individuals identified as members of the Senegalese Ecomig contingent.
“I can confirm to you that on 16 September 2020, our officers on patrol got a tip-off about certain individuals throwing a birthday party at Bijilo thereby violating the regulations. The team arrived at the venue where they found a crowd attending a birthday pool party. [Currently], they are being processed for appropriate actions,” he said.
Upon their arrest, the offenders were reportedly taken to the Banjul police headquarters.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the West African troops in The Gambia, Andy La-Anyane admitted: “I can confirm to you that two of our gendarmerie soldiers at the State House were arrested together with some Gambians for, I believe, breaking the curfew regulations.
“The point is that we an armed force and we operate on discipline. We don’t take discipline for granted at all. Therefore, Ecomig will take the proper and appropriate disciplinary action if investigations are concluded and we find that they really broke the laws because we have our rules and regulations which govern our operations here and every single soldier is aware [of them]. So, once you go outside of those rules and regulations, you would be disciplined,” he said.
