Kemo Jaiteh, a narcotics officer, was yesterday testifying before Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the High Court in Banjul. He said he was stationed at the airport where they intercepted the suspected 3 bags or luggage of drugs and each luggage was carrying 10 blocks of cocaine.
It would be recalled that the accused, Vilma Cabral Roel, Ana Patricia Dos Santos Furtado, Simara Nadiya Martins, Mirarg Maria Mendes, Seedy Ceesay, Lamin Ceesay, Yaya K. Jatta, Modou Bejang, and Muhammed Jallow were charged with aggravated drug trafficking after being found in possession of 33kg, 600g of cocaine on June 29, 2024, at the International Airport, for the purpose of trafficking.
They were also charged with dealing in prohibited drugs and conspiracy and on June 29, 2024, they were involved in the transportation of prohibited drugs and conspired among themselves to traffic the substances.
The witness Kemo Jaiteh explained his responsibilities as a narcotics officer who intercepts drugs and prevents other crimes.
He then narrated how he got to the conclusion of arresting the four Portuguese women and took them to the CTI unit, which is a drug squad office.
He said he saw the second accused, sitting at the restaurant inside the airport and later, during the check-in to board the flight to Barcelona, he said he was standing at the security port where all travelling passengers pay 20 dollars before they are checked-in.
“There, I saw the four Portuguese women (accused persons) come in to check in. I checked their passports at the entrance and noticed they were all Portuguese nationals looking suspicious,” the witness said, adding that the accused were having similar passports with similar ages and were travelling without luggage except with their cross-bags.
The witness said he then checked the names of the four Portuguese women with the Passenger Name Records (PNR), which indicated that they had only one PNR and that they were travelling together.
“We had them checked-in, mounted some surveillance on them and let them pass through the immigration check-in to the departure.”
The witness continued his testimony that he later saw the women talking among themselves while the 2nd accused was constantly on the phone. And then, he said, he saw them going upstairs to the Romeich business lounge room in the airport.
Later on, he said, when he was standing at the boarding gate, and it was time for passengers to board, he saw the ladies joining the VIP van when all the other passengers were boarding the normal bus.
He explained that the VIP van was only meant for ministers, dignitaries or state guests. “As far as I know, there are no official procedures for passengers to board onto the VIP van,” the narcotics officer witness said. “We can only negotiate with the protocol officers to accommodate others.”
He narrated that when the VIP left for the foot of the aircraft, he and his team decided to pursue the van to confirm if those ladies were drug free before they boarded the flight.
“As we approached the foot of the aircraft, we saw the ladies alight the VIP van talking among themselves and they were looking suspicious,” the witness stated, adding that they then identified themselves to the ladies. At that moment the ladies were uncomfortable, and “acting a bit suspicious again and talking among themselves and I believed they were speaking Portuguese.”
Upon accessing the VIP vehicle, the witness said they saw 3 hand luggage which indicated a tag that the luggage had passed through the normal checking procedures.
“We asked the driver, Modou Bojang, 8th accused, the owner of the 3 luggage and told us that they belonged to the ladies.”
The witness then said they drove back to the aircraft where the ladies were and asked them what was the content of the luggage but, he said the ladies told them that they did not know.
“We called our supervisor, Pa Modou Manneh, and informed him about the situation and he instructed us to inform the airline to confirm the flight list of the ladies and later we took the 3 luggage to our office to confirm the content of the luggage,” witness testified.
Upon completion of the search on the luggage, the witness said he found out that 10 blocks of suspected drugs were there and informed by using a spectrometer machine which confirmed that the blocks were cocaine
The witness then said the ladies were interrogated in their office at the airport and they claimed they were contracted by one British national to transport the same blocks to Barcelona and that they would be paid 10,000 Euros each.
The case was adjourned until 3 December 2024.
