By Mustapha Jallow
Mr. Bakary Fatty, an agriculture reporter at the Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS), was arrested and detained at the
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters in Banjul since on Tuesday, 8 November, 2016, according to a close family source.
Visiting his family residence at Farato-Jamburr, yesterday, 13 November, one of his relatives told this reporter that it all started when Bakary returned from Kanilai on Monday 7 November and he complained to her that his asthma attacked him again. She said on Tuesday morning, while he was under treatment, he received a phone call from an unknown caller who told him that he is wanted at GRTS, adding that Mr Fatty replied to the said caller that he is ill and cannot go to the office.
‘‘Few minutes later, Mr Fatty kept receiving calls upon calls but his response to them was that he is ill and cannot go to the office,’’ the relative disclosed.
According to the family source, it was around 12 noon that Mr Fatty, the bread winner of the family, received another call and the caller told him that his boss wanted him immediately at GRTS. The source further noted that Fatty had no option but to go and answer to the office.
‘‘While he was with one of the wives in his vehicle, the phone rang again and the caller asked for his location; but he told him that he was on his way to the office. He later dropped the wife at Farato as she was going to the clinic and he then proceeded,’’ the relative explained.
The relative revealed that the wife later received a phone call from her husband telling her that his office was filled with NIA agents who were taking him to their office in Banjul.
The relative added, ‘‘The wife overheard them telling him that he should switch off his phone and thereafter their communication was cut-off. The source explained that the family became worried and some of them including one of the wives visited the NIA headquarters but the agents there told us that they do not know Bakary Fatty.’
