The business community and the police in Makeni are reported to be desperately searching for two people believed to be members of a ‘419’ gang.
The two, Mohamed Bundu and Fattie Kamara, are believed to be outside Zimmi town heading towards Liberia. The two ‘419ers’ made their escape from Makeni after successfully duping business people, civil servants, contractors, petty traders, local authorities and heads of institutions millions of Leones.
According to information gathered by Awoko the 419ers first rented a house at No.1 Gedda Street for three months. In that community, they duped the headman Pa Issa and his family monies including church funds running into millions of Leones.
They then abandoned the house and moved to the AzzoLini Highway where they rented a house for a million Leones. They again went on to coordinate their criminal activities at this place with the aid of unsuspecting people whom they promised to provide unemployment for.
At the Business Centre at Church Street, Le24m was reported to have been collected from petty traders and contractors.
But suspicion was raised by their house boy, Ahmed Turay, when early February he was posted to Makoth Village, 12 miles from Makeni, to wait for a two-foot container that would be arriving with bulgur from Freetown.
After waiting from 12pm to 1am the boy then returned to Makeni to meet an empty house. According to one of the victims, they posted 15 people to Bo, Kabala and Freetown with fake documents to secure jobs after collecting 20m from them.
The source further revealed that it was the driver of the vehicle they hired to transport their stolen property to Bo town that spread the news of their escape. “
The vehicle was hired for Magburuka but they ended up at the Bo parking ground,” he explained.
Before his return to Makeni, the driver further explained that the two criminals also hired another vehicle for Zimmi.
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