By Binta A Bah
Yusupha Manneh, a drug trafficking suspect accused of being in possession of more 19kg of cannabis, has pleaded with Principal Magistrate Pa Modou Njie to release him on bail.
“Please grant me bail,” he pleaded. However, the magistrate responded that he does not have the jurisdiction to grant him bail.
“I cannot give you bail. Only the High Court can grant you bail,” Njie told him before he was escorted to a prison van to be taken back to Mile II.
Manneh is standing trial at the Bundung Magistrates’ Court on a single count of possession of prohibited drugs for trafficking. Prosecutors said he was found with 19kg of cannabis in January at Kololi. He denied the allegation.
Testifying earlier was an anti-drug officer, Lamin Manjang who informed the court that he escorted the accused to Bijilo after his arrest to weigh the cannabis he was found with.
The state prosecutor applied to tender the weighing certificate as evidence but the accused objected that the said cannabis was found in a compound and had nothing to do with him.
The magistrate however admitted the document before adjourning the case to September 15 for continuation of hearing.
