DLEAG officials said the street value for the drugs is D51, 498,000.
The Agency noted that a sting operation was conducted that resulted in the apprehension of the suspect called Saikou Krubally, a Gambian national holding a Spanish residential permit.
The suspect is currently detained by narcotic officers as investigation continues.
Ousman Saidybah, the spokesperson of the agency who confirmed this report, explained that the pills were concealed in three (3) separate suitcases. He stated that the suspect who arrived onboard SN Brussels Airlines was monitored upon arrival and later arrested around Sukuta Traffic Light on the 2nd of February 2025 around 19:59 hours onwards.
“The seizure is said to be one of the largest ever single seizures of ecstasy at an airport within the sub region and is part of several significant seizures registered by operatives at the airport,” he said.
“Clearly, this is an indication of the agency’s resolve to make the airport an unattractive route to illicit drug traffickers and their patrons.”
The suspect, he went on, travelled from Barcelona to Amsterdam where he picked the said pills of ecstasy before continuing his journey to Banjul with SN Brussels Airlines via Brussels for a fee of €10,000.00 (as indicated by preliminary enquiry into the matter).
He further recalled that in December 2024, operatives conducted a two-month covert operation that resulted in the apprehension of three (3) Nigerian nationals with 40,227 tablets of ecstasy that were smuggled from India.
In the same vein, he said, DLEAG operatives alongside personnel of the Joint Airport Interdiction Task Force (JAITF) arrested a Gambian national who travelled from Germany to Banjul with SN Brussels Airline with ten packs of ecstasy containing a cumulative total of 47,078 pills of Ecstasy. Additionally, operatives in September 2024 arrested a Gambian national who travelled from Switzerland and collected from a friend of his in Spain sixty (60) blocks of Moroccan hashish that was intercepted at Banjul International Airport.
“Within a span of three months, operatives stationed at the airport together with sister security services and aviation security personnel have seized more than two hundred and fifteen thousand pills of ecstasy and significant quantities of cocaine, Moroccan hashish, skunk cannabis and other varying types of drugs.”
The agency’s management reaffirmed its unreserved commitment, determination and dedication to abate the drug situation while calling for public support and participation in the crusade on drugs by sharing information of suspicious drug related activities to the agency.
In a separate development, narcotic officers have also arrested an American national who holds dual citizenship of Gambia and the United States of America. He was arrested at the arrival hall of the Banjul International Airport on the 29th of January 2025 with 20 packages of skunk cannabis, six packets of skunk chewing gum, and 10 jars containing cannabis oil & 1g 536mg cocaine.
He is also currently under detention as investigation into the matter continues.
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