Drug Squad Chief, Bully Sanneh, 3 others sacked and arrested

By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief

Unimpeachable sources close the presidency report that Mr. Bully Sanneh (a.k.a Bun) has been sacked from his post as Executive Director of  Gambia National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA) with immediate effect. He is reportedly axed along with three subordinates and all have since been arrested by the most predacious National Intelligence Agency.

This latest arrest of Sanneh and colleagues comes in the wake of mass dismissals and arresting of senior law enforcement and security officers in the past 5-days and Gambians are kept curiously questioning what has become of their government and country.

Since the military coup of July, 22, 1994, Bully Sanneh (or Bun as he prefers to be called) has been on center-stage claiming to be Yaya Jammeh’s mentor and elder brother. He is an old graduate of the Mile II Prisons where he was detained for a long time in the wake of the July 30, 1981 coup debacle that saw armed bandits brandishing AK-47 riffles causing mayhem to our once innocent nation.

A 1977 graduate of the Latrikunda Secondary Technical School, Sanneh proceeded to The Gambia Muslim high school where he ran afoul of the school authorities after brutally beating and breaking the arm of his Islamic studies teacher causing his immediate rustication. Dropping out of high school, Sanneh became very disgruntled with the Jawara government and a willing accomplice of the Kukoi Samba Sanyang coup plot. He was arrested and spent several months at Mile II and when pardoned, he picked up a job with the once famous Youth Front Against Drugs & Alcohol Abuse under the stewardship of Saul Sillah.

Paradoxically, when Jammeh came to power, Sanneh who had had a bone of contention with his previous employer turned the tide on Sillah and colleagues which finally saw the demise of the Youth Front. With Yaya Jammeh’s tribal card at hand, it was predictable that the sky was the limit for Bully. My colleague, Mathew K. Jallow and I, were friends to Mr. Sanneh until the July coup that severed so many relationships and destroyed families.

Significantly, in July 2008, The Gambia Echo published a letter accusing Sanneh of blatant corruption and abuse of office. Click on our July 2008 archives for the withering indictment.1233