The suspect, Amadou Tidiane Ba, from Sarre Ndiaga in Senegal was arrested together with another Senegalese man, Boubacarr Diallo who is said to be his accomplice in the scam.
Police spokesperson, ASP David Kujabi, told The Standard newspaper at the police headquarters in Banjul yesterday: “These people [suspects] arrived in the country in early December and they were lodged at 7 Primet Street in Banjul. The complainant [Abdou Mbye] owns a shop on the same street and the second accused [Diallo] would always come to buy items at the shop. He would always tell Abdou that his colleague was a great marabout and that he [Abdou] should go see him. One day, Abdou finally met the marabout [Ba] but had to pay D1,000 as consultation fee. The marabout gave him some juju to bathe with. One day, they showed him a suitcase filled with money which belonged to him [Abdou] but told him before he would get it, he would have to pay D40,000. Abdou then gave them an initial payment of D35,000. He then went on to give them a total D53,000 and 80,000CFA which was all the money he had and he even had to borrow more money.
“T[he suspects then] hired a taxi and tried to get out of the country. When they arrived at Jiboro Police Station, the officer on duty, Sergeant Musa Njie, enquired where they were going and they said they were going to a funeral. He was suspicious and conducted a search where he recovered three mobile phones, D11,342 and CFA129,000. The police checked the calls recorded on one of the phones and they observed a recurrent number that had been dialed. They called that number and Abdou [the complainant] picked. They asked him whether he knew the marabout and he said yes. They are likely to be charged with obtaining money by false pretence.”
The police public relations chief urged any person who may have been duped by the marabout to contact the police as they are investigating his activities.
“We urge the members of the public to be mindful of becoming a victim of fraud,” ASP Kujabi advised.
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