A source who is familiar with the development and spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the development, adding: “The operation which occurred on Saturday 18 May 2024 was preceded with a seizure of another 15 parcels of skunkweed from the same source. In total, a record amount of 91 parcels of skunkweed and 1988 tablets of ecstasy were seized.”
Bakary Gassama, the director general of the country’s narcotic agency confirmed the development, saying: “This breakthrough disrupts the criminal activities of a major Gambian skunk and ecstasy trafficking ring based in Atlanta, Georgia – USA. The sender of the drugs is identified as 32-year-old Musa Keita, a Gambian based in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States of America.”
“Shipping records indicate that Musa has imported into The Gambia since early 2021 a huge quantity of drugs in various consignments using unsuspecting container freight service providers. The boxes will often be labelled with fake names and telephone numbers and declared as food stuffs and medicament for his mother,” he postulated.
“His mother Hulay Touray, age 58 of Sukuta would receive the boxes from the shipper and serve as the first line in the local distribution chain. Hulay is currently arrested and detained, while Musa remains a fugitive in the United States of America.”
Since COVID-19, he went on, ecstasy has become a “drug of problem” for The Gambia as many young people particularly girls are into its abuse. “It is imperative for us to work together as concerned people to fight back the criminals at home and abroad involved in the trafficking of the drugs into the country.”
“DLEAG stands ready to protect our society from the harms of drug abuse, while devising strategies to cater for the peculiar needs of victims of drug abuse – through rehabilitation programmes,” he emphasised.
