Baboucarr Njie, 33, Ousman Jammeh, 37, Saloum Jeng, 39, all pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply drugs. Njie was sentenced to 12 months, Jammeh to 8 months while Jeng was slammed with a 16-month jail term.
According to reports, the Gambians were caught in ‘Operation Mandera’, a long-running police campaign to clean up Manchester city centre.
Reports said police officers spent the last 18 months targeting sections of the city to rid them of drugs and booze-related disorder.
Earlier this year the local paper, Manchester Evening News, launched a campaign to clean up and transform notorious drug dealing areas. As a result, the council agreed to improve street lighting around following complaints that visitors and commuters feel unsafe after dark.
Inspector Phil Spurgeon, the city centre lead for neighbourhood policing, is quoted as saying: “The city centre neighbourhood policing team has worked tirelessly over the last 18 months to tackle anti-social behaviour and drug dealing. These sentences underline our commitment to tackle the long-standing issue of street drug dealing. We particularly welcome the issuing of CRASBOs [Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Orders], as well as custodial sentences, which should give the affected community some respite. I would like to thank the people of Manchester who continue to provide us with information in order to help in our fight against drug dealing. We remain committed to rooting this problem out and today’s result should serve as a warning to those who continue to deal drugs on our streets.”
Saloum Jeng, 39, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to nine counts of supplying drugs and was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Baboucarr Njie, 33, possession with intent to supply drugs and was sentenced to 12 months. Ousman Jammeh, 37, of Hilton Street North, Salford, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession with intent to supply drugs and was sentenced to eight months.
From Manchester Evening News. Additional reporting by Sainey Marenah
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