Former anti-drug police chief threatens to sue for wrongful dismissal

By Omar Bah Pateh Jallow, a former deputy director of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency has threatened a lawsuit against the Gambia Government for wrongful termination. Jallow said he was dismissed from his position when the former president was informed that he went to the US Embassy to seek for support from the Regional Security Officer attached to the Embassy over an investigation he was following concerning tons of drugs seized at Bonto village. “I have decided to take the Gambia Government to both the High Court and the ECOWAS Court after exhausting all possible measures to get my job back,” he told The Standard in an exclusive interview. He said when the government announced that people who were wrongfully dismissed should go to the PMO and complain, he took his letter there on 22 February 2017 and until now, nothing has happened despite the fact that the PMO had recommended his reinstatement . Jallow said he was informed last year while he was in Germany that he has been reinstated after a successful vetting by the NSS and the police. “The PMO wrote my letter of reinstatement to the DLEA but it was never acted on and when I reported the matter to the former SG Fadera, he told me if I want to be reinstated I had to resign from the GDC and ensure that it is made public on newspapers and radios. But I asked him whether my only crime was supporting the GDC,” he alleged. He said he reported the matter to the Ombudsman’s office but was told that they could not investigate his case because a panel had already investigated it.   Reasons of his dismissal Mr Jallow recalled that when he returned from a study trip in Columbia which coincided with the arrest of former DG Bun Sanneh, he was promoted to the rank of deputy director and Kalilou Njie was his director. “Njie was later dismissed and they brought Benedict Jammeh. We were fortunate to seize tons of drugs in Bonto Village. But after a thorough investigation no Gambian was found wanting,” he said. He said the traffickers were using The Gambia to traffic their drugs from West Africa to Europe.“So whiles I was investigating that case, I went to the US Embassy to meet the Regional Security Officer who linked me with the Department of Drug Enforcement in US. I was in constant contact with them to help us know what was going on with those tons of drugs and how they made it to the country,” he said. He continued: “It was during that process that somebody informed the former president that I was working with the FBI. So both the former president and the then minister of interior started calling me, insulting me. They asked why I should go to the US Embassy. I was very surprised because Jammeh was the one who asked us not to leave any stone unturned in our fight against drug trafficking. So this was the time that I realized that Jammeh was involved in selling drugs and nobody knows that better than me. There is nobody in this country who can tell you about these activities better than me,” he said. Jallow said he was later arrested and taken to the NIA, tortured and dismissed. He said five months after his dismissal his brother Ellow Jallow, a former member of State Guard was murdered in a staged accident.]]>