By Tabora Bojang
Two soldiers sustained injuries in a brief moment of drama that followed their attempt to intercept suspects attempting to offload suspected cannabis from a car in Ebo-Town Saturday.
According to senior army sources, in the early hours of Saturday Private Mustapha Sanneh and Lance Corporal Salif Bangura of Yundum Barracks, both resident in Ebo Town, bumped unto a jeep offloading suspected drugs in the area and attempted to intercept them. ”The driver of the vehicle refused to comply with their order to surrender and went ahead to offload the suspected marijuana while his companions too joined to prevent the soldiers from arresting them. As the driver attempted to leave, a bag containing four bundles of cannabis fell which Private Sanneh seized but the suspected owners of the drugs stormed his house insisting that he hands over the consignment to them,” our source said.
At this point, said our source, personnel of the Military Police arrived at the scene reportedly to collect the two soldiers [Sanneh and Bangura] and the drug they seized, but they were reportedly obstructed by a joint security tasked force of the KM region leading to a push-and-pull in which the tire of the MP vehicle was damaged while the two officers [Sanneh and Bangura] sustained injuries.
It is also reported that some people, suspected to be anti-drug officers allegedly went into the house of Private Salif Bangura following the departure of the army reinforcement and made away with D15, 000 but no drug was found.
“So contrary to earlier reports, these two soldiers are not drug suspects and were not arrested but only taken by the Military Police for their safety and further investigations,” an authoritative army source told The Standard.
The Standard contacted the police public relations officer who could only say that they are aware of the incident and it is being investigated. He however added that once the investigation is over, the police would come with detailed information on its findings.
Meanwhile, the PRO of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Mr Ousman Saidybah said his institution had received information about a certain incident involving suspected drugs at Ebo Town.
“But when our team got there, they found a bit of push and pull between soldiers and members of the joint security task force. Our team confirmed that two soldiers were taken away by their fellow soldiers with four bundles of suspected cannabis. Our team also conducted a search around a compound discovering one bundle of cannabis and arresting one Manga Kujabie,” Mr Saidybah said.
