{"id":54471,"date":"2024-03-09T17:26:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T17:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?p=54471"},"modified":"2024-03-09T17:14:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T17:14:48","slug":"dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia","title":{"rendered":"DLEAG says Sierra Leoneans account for most \u2018kush\u2019 trafficked into Gambia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Bakary Gassama, Director General of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency-The Gambia, said Sierra Leonean nationals account for the most \u2018kush\u2019 trafficked into The Gambia. The drug is reported to have continued to cause serious devastation in Sierra Leone.<\/b><\/p>\n

Addressing journalists recently at a joint security press conference held at the Ministry of Interior, DG Gassama said the first case of \u2018kush\u2019 was registered in The Gambia in 2021.<\/p>\n

He said the following year, there was no case, but last year over 25 cases were registered due to the country\u2019s porous borders, which are hard to manage, especially with limited resources.<\/p>\n

DG Gassama disclosed that most of these cases are very severe, leading to hospitalisation, or in some cases, victims are taken to Tanka-Tanka.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of the cases registered are Sierra Leoneans, and we can say their origin is Sierra Leone. They have penetrated our market, and we need the support of all Gambians to provide information relating to these crimes committed in our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the emergence of new substances like kush, ecstasy, and other substances that are new in the market with very high potency is worrying and needs to be tackled with urgency, adding that the Ministry of Health has also realised the increase in admission of patients who develop serious health complications, and doctors\u2019 engagement with these individuals has indicated that they have taken kush combined with other chemicals. He, however, said there is no medical proof to show that the drug is killing people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government, the Ministry of Health in particular, and the security forces are very worried, and we urge the youths to stop abusing these drugs for the sake of their future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cocaine<\/b><\/p>\n

DG Gassama said DLEAG seized over 800kg of cocaine in 2022 alone. In June 2021, DLEAG made the largest single cocaine seizure in the history of the country. Nearly three tonnes of cocaine with a street value estimated at more than $87 million were seized at the port in Banjul.<\/p>\n

DG Gassama said 2.5 tonnes seized in 2021 was the single largest seizure, but in 2022 alone, close to 900kg bound for Europe were seized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are significant consignments of cocaine that we have seized over the years, but all these drugs are in transit, so it is a problem for each and every country in the Ecowas region today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said The Gambia, Bissau, and other West African countries are used by drug traffickers as transit points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are criminals who exist and venture into this illicit trade that generates a lot of income, so they want to capitalise on their influence to penetrate our borders by trafficking these drugs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a consuming country when it comes to cocaine, heroin, and other hard drugs because users of drugs in this country cannot afford to buy cocaine, but we are doing all we can to curb the drug situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In The Gambia, he added, cannabis is the main problem because we are closer to Casamance, where more than 90% of the cannabis abused here is cultivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing everything in our power to make sure that we minimise the trafficking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Landing Bojang, Assistant Inspector General of Police, said the country\u2019s crime rate is relatively low compared to other countries, adding that the police are doing a tremendous job of apprehending suspects. He said that when it comes to murder cases, almost all the accused are apprehended by the police. Mr. Bojang said many cases reported online are organised crimes.<\/p>\n

He urged people to stop concealing crime and complement the country\u2019s security forces for a crime-free society.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Bakary Gassama, Director General of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency-The Gambia, said Sierra Leonean nationals account for the most \u2018kush\u2019 trafficked into The Gambia. The drug is reported to have continued to cause serious devastation in Sierra Leone. Addressing journalists recently at a joint security press conference held at the Ministry of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":54470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-54471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nDLEAG says Sierra Leoneans account for most \u2018kush\u2019 trafficked into Gambia - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bakary Gassama, Director General of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency-The Gambia, said Sierra Leonean nationals account ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DLEAG says Sierra Leoneans account for most \u2018kush\u2019 trafficked into Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bakary Gassama, Director General of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency-The Gambia, said Sierra Leonean nationals account ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-09T17:26:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/03\/sm_1709991755.652965.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"DLEAG says Sierra Leoneans account for most \u2018kush\u2019 trafficked into Gambia\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-09T17:26:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia\"},\"wordCount\":630,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/03\/sm_1709991755.652965.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/dleag-says-sierra-leoneans-account-for-most-kush-trafficked-into-gambia\",\"name\":\"DLEAG says Sierra Leoneans account for most \u2018kush\u2019 trafficked into Gambia - 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