By Omar Bah
Police have announced a successful operation in collaboration with Project Rescue Children (PRC) that led to the arrest of a man who allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl.
Nicola Mendy, a senior police officer at Bakoteh station who made the arrest, confirmed that the accused, who initially attempted to run, is currently detained and helping the police in their investigations.
“Following days of searching, the police reached out to PRC for support, who were able to locate his whereabouts and contacted us to effect the arrest,” he said.
He thanked the PRC for leading the operation, saying the NGO has been collaborating with the police on a number of operations.
“We are proud of PRC’s collaboration and assistance,” he said.
The CEO of Project Rescue Children, Adam Whittington, said it was a full operation that was given to them by the IGP.
“Three days later, after we had possible information from an informant, we travelled to start our investigation at the border village and was lucky to have located the suspect’s apartment and conducted surveillance on it. When he arrived, we called the local police, who arrived and arrested him.
He was transported back to Banjul,” he said.
He said PRC is a “not-for-profit Gambian charity” that is dedicated to protecting and educating Gambian children.
“We do this through school education, workshops, awareness campaigns, and working in partnership with the Gambian Police Force. Our excellent partnership with the Gambian Police, who are passionate about our mission, only benefits the local communities being targeted for trafficking and exploitation. Our goal is to keep all Gambian children safe from child trafficking and exploitation,” he said.
