By Juldeh Njie
The police public relations officer, ASP Lamin Njie has revealed that the anti crime unit of the Gambia Police Force registered at least 143 criminal cases ranging from theft, robbery to vandalism in 2018 alone.
Njie made these revelations over the weekend at the anti crime unit headquarters in Bijilo.
He added that out of the 143 cases, 108 have been prosecuted and conviction already secured.
“And then we have about 16 cases that are ongoing at the courts and 19 on investigations as we speak”, PRO said.
He said 382 people were involved in the cases and out of that 347 people have already been convicted many of whom have already been given jail terms.
He said the anti crime unit is up to their game in dealing with crime, adding that they {police} have recovered most of the suspected stolen properties from individuals who were involved in the crimes.
He cited the case of one Babucarr Camara who conspired with a taxi driver to break in to the shops at Buffer Zone, stealing goods that were then transported on the taxi.
He also reveled as another example the case of one Alagie Mendy, a salesman, also arrested for stealing 30 mobile phones from an individual shopkeeper in Serekunda.
“When the shopkeeper realised that 30 mobile phones have been missing from his shop, the matter was brought to the attention of the police and the police were able to investigate the situation and recovered the phones and proceeds of those he managed to sell, sold,” he added
Another high profile case he said is that of a group of young people going by the names Ansumana Trawally, Saikou Faye and Babucarr Cessay who go around breaking into shops and houses in Busumbala.
He continued: “We also have the case of one Landing Jarjue and Abdoulie Jammeh who teamed up to break in people’s compounds or robbed people in lonely streets.”
ASP Lamin Njie said they will be prosecuted for the different crimes they have committed.
He cautioned people to be careful especially at night because some of them are armed and they will be waiting for whosoever falls in their trap.
He went on to say that the police do not enjoy sending young people to jail but they cannot sit and watch crime. The police spokesman called on the public to avoid buying suspected stolen goods as this can only encourage crime.
