The illegal and unlawful possession of weapons by some unscrupulous and dodgy citizens is indisputably the cause for the high rate of arm robbery in the country. Cases in our Magistrate courts project the view that the Sierra Leone police are relentlessly and tirelessly pursuing armed robbers and charging them to court.
Five men are currently facing trial at court No.1 of the Freetown Magistrate court on charges of unlawful possession of arms and ammunition without license. The five men who were arraigned before Magistrate Steven Conteh on the 6th of February include: Ismeal Deen Mansaray, Mohamed Lamin Sankoh, Aruna Sankoh, Hassan Conteh and Oloh Mansaray. Detective police constable 10170 Abdul .M.Kamara of the Major Incident Support Team of the Criminal Investigation Department Head Quarters in Freetown testified against the five accused. The police constable told the court that while he was on duty on the 30th August, 2008 a group of police officers brought the second accused, Mohamed Lamin Sankoh and a suitcase to the C.I.D Head Quarters. He further explained that the officers told his Department that the second accused was caught in Kenema in possession of the said suitcase which contained 2 Kalashnikov riffles, 187 live rounds of ammunition, 7 empty magazines and wearing apparatus.
The first accused, Ismeal Deen Mansaray was caught in Kambia by the police. Police investigation proved that Ismeal is closely related to the suitcase that was caught with the second accused in Kenema. As police continued their investigation three others were apprehended in relation to the matter.
The witness, police constable 10170 Kamara stated that between the 1st and 2nd September, 2008 statements were taken from the five accused persons by him with his colleague Sergeant 5053 Musa A. He also mentioned that the riffles and ammunition were sent to the Police Head Quarters for examination.
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