By Amadou Manjang
Cementing on the rise of gun crimes in the Gambia, the Public Relation Officer of Gambia Police Force, Binta Njie said the illegally smuggled guns in the country passed through the Gambia Port.
‘They all came through the port,’ she said.
The Police spokesperson made this remark during a joint press conference held at the Ministry of Interior on Saturday.
She further explained that the guns entered the country undetected because the security forces lack the equipment to detect such weapons.
‘We don’t have equipment to detect them at the port,’ she said.
She said the guns are smuggled into the country in containers with other goods.
Recently, there has been proliferation and rise of gun crimes in the Gambia which raise public concern and safety as the guns are possessed illegally and unlicensed.
In 2018, during the Commission of Inquiry hearing on the financial activities of the former president and his close associates at the Djembe Beach Hotel, a gunman was arrested.
On September 2023, a gun man attacked Paramilitary Officers at the Sukuta-Jabang Highway killing two male officers and wounding one female officer.
On February 2024, it was reported that two-gun men attacked a businessman in Fajara.
The Police spokesperson further explained the guns are neither registered nor licensed in the country.
Meanwhile, she said efforts are underway to ensure that such guns are detected at the port.
She added that despite the entry of the guns and the rise of gun crimes, the perpetrators of the gun crimes are arrested and are prosecuted or are under prosecution.
