By Lamin Fatty
The National Farmers Union has condemned the attempted fertiliser smuggling incident and demanded a thorough investigation into the matter.
Foroyaa published the alleged incident on Monday involving a Senegalese-registered vehicle that was allegedly smuggling fertiliser out of the country. The vehicle was intercepted and impounded by the Gambian security operatives.
Modou Njie, the Secretary General of the Gambia Farmers Union condemned the incident and urged the authorities, particularly the police to thoroughly investigate the matter.
“I am speaking on behalf of the National Farmers Union. We fully condemned it and we are demanding the rightful authorities to take action by thoroughly investigating the matter to dig deep into the bottom and bring those involved to book,” Njie told Foroyaa.
“These fertilisers are brought into the country purposely for Gambian farmers and should not be sold outside the Gambia. Therefore, taking it outside the country in this manner is illegal and unacceptable. No matter who is involved, the people must be held accountable for their conduct,” Njie added.
Njie said he is not aware of any arrests yet. He added that the Union is following the matter with the hope that those involved would all be arrested after the investigation.
Meanwhile, the reporter acted on information from sources that the Governor of the Upper River Region, Samba Bah, was agitated about the incident as he went to his office to speak to him. The Governor said he immediately contacted the police commissioner of the URR to take action after he was informed about the incident at Yorobawol. Governor Bah said the matter is under investigation and did not wish to make comments about it.
“I am waiting for the outcome of the investigation,” the URR governor told Foroyaa.
