By Tabora Bojang
The Gambia police have described as “baseless and unfounded” allegations that the country is in the grips of an unprecedented spate of kidnappings and missing persons.
In the past few weeks, reports of missing persons, especially children and in some cases adults have been flooding the social networks. It has been speculated that some of the children purportedly abducted have been subjected to ritualistic killings.
Over the weekend, the commissioner in charge of police operation, Lamin LK Bojang, appeared on the police social media page to debunk “misinformation and distortion on the social media about reports of kidnappings”.
Commissioner Bojang said the police have not recorded any kidnapping incident in the country over the past year.
He said following a careful examination of these kidnapping and abduction allegations, it was established that they were false and misleading aimed to misguide and instill fear in the public.
“The majority of them are unfounded and are not even Gambian related matters,” Bojang charged.
“Coming into the security landscape of this country, I believe we are on better footing than most of the countries that we try to compare ourselves with. All this information of kidnappings is not found to be true. These are people who went on their own free will to places they didn’t want to be disclosed and they caused panic within their families. As a result, those families also because they want to help, will buy whatever story is given to them, but after we investigate they are found to be false,” he explained.
Commissioner Bojang said such misinformation only serves to distort the prevailing peace and tranquility enjoyed by Gambians and creates unnecessary panic.
Chief Superintendent Gass Sabally, head of police operations in Bundung and Tallinding, said the police have beefed up their operations by conducting daily and nightly patrols and school engagements in a bid to stem crime in the metropolis. “The police are not sleeping. We are continuously on patrols. Some people are just there to tarnish the image of the institution which cannot be accepted. We are trying to make sure that this country is safe. We don’t have threats in this country as they are putting on the social media. People should be mindful that giving false information especially on the social media is totally wrong and unacceptable and if anybody crosses the line of the police, you are going to be taken before the law,” she warned.
Police spokesperson ASP Binta Njie called for public cooperation and collaboration to help police fight crime.
