Breaking News NIA Arrests Four Senior Customs Officers

By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief

Highly placed unimpeachable sources say that four senior Gambian Customs and Excise officials were rounded up yesterday and have since been detained at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters in Banjul. The four officers, identified as Lamin Marena, Baboucarr Loum, Edrissa Touray and Mr. Jaye were arrested following what our sources called “instruction from President Jammeh, in his promise on Gambian Radio and TV to clean The Gambia of corruption.”

Says Waato Seeta, ever since their arrest yesterday, they were denied access to either a lawyer or their family members and according to investigators, and “some progress was being made because they are talking”. Asked what they were being investigated for, Seeta says, allegations of massive amounts of money in the millions disappearing from Gambian revenue collections. Asked what the next step was, Waato Seeta says, “they are likely to be cautioned by end of this week, as so many heads will roll in the coming days.” Reveals Waato, “our boys will be visiting and picking up so many civil servants in the coming days from various institutions like, Ports, Ferries, Central Bank, Ministry of Finance, Fisheries, Airport and even some APRC senior officials shall be invited and some will have to spend up 15 days in detention because our investigation is very cumbersome and will need time.” Asked what areas their investigations will focus on, Seeta says, “if you move around Fajara and the Kombo coastal areas, you will see buildings that no civil servant can build based on his salary and this applies to some of the Cabinet ministers, we will be investigating all these bogus properties.”

For now though, we will leave it at that and see where these investigations will end up. It remains to be seen whether it is one of those many instances when Jammeh will accuse people of corruption only to make a good name. The truth though, is that, corruption remains The Gambia’s most troubling development cancer. Almost all Gambian ministers are corrupt!!