By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Sierra Leone Police has confirmed that no contraband goods such as arms and ammunition and narcotics were found in a 40 feet sea cargo Container as was alleged after it was offloaded at the Sierra Leone Police Senior Officer’s Mess at Kingtom in the presence of journalists, civil society activists, and other security personnel.
The container which landed at the Freetown Port was taken into police custody at the Police officers' Mess at Kingtom, fueling suspicion and debate that the said 40ft container could be carrying narcotic drugs or the new Leone currency.
Addressing the pressmen after the offloading process which lasted for two days, the Head of Police Media and Public Relations, Assistant Commissioner Brima Kamara noted that they decided for the pressmen and other stakeholders concerned to be present at the opening of the container to ascertain what could have been in it to ensure transparency and accountability.
“So for the purpose of accountability and the avoidance of doubt, we decided that we must come in and get the container offloaded. We started yesterday but we couldn’t conclude the offloading process, but we reached the end today,’’ he said.
Kamara noted that there is nothing like arms and ammunition or cocaine in the container, neither was there anything that would have been of security interest. He referred to the intelligence received by the police on the said container as a false alarm which he said they could not underestimate but acted upon.
He said if they had failed to act upon the intelligence and it turned out to be true, other schools of thought would have said that they were informed but failed to act. He advised whistleblowers to be sure of any information they might want to blow out, before raising an alarm that could put the nation in a pandemonium state.
When pressed to open the cartoons that were found in the container, the police media man noted that it would cost almost a week to conclude that process. He authoritatively confirmed to journalists that the container only contained cartoons of gizzards, but nothing else.
A statement from the container owner, the National Revenue Authority, according to the police media head would be issued at a press conference to be conducted by the Police to update the public more on the issue.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (27/07/22)
