A few days ago, the What’s on Gambia platform posted a statement that “Thieves allegedly broke into a private jet on the tarmac at Banjul International Airport. The President recently used the aircraft for official trips to Gabon and Nigeria.
The post raised alarm bells for the general public, but more so for us at the Open Gambia Platform, because such an incident has never been heard of at the BIA or any International airport due to the nature of stringent aviation security measures applied.
The other factor is that the president recently used the private jet, making one wonder if the flight was intended to harm the president or the dignitaries using the special aircraft. Secondly, it’s known that aircraft don’t carry valuable items when parked after use. What would be the rationale for any thieves to target the plane? It wouldn’t be for the aviation parts that thieves would target to trade to a non-existent secondary market in the country, and hardly to target international buyers.
The only rational conclusion we could speculate on for the reason for the alleged thieves breaking into a private jet at the TACMAC is the likelihood of drugs stored in the plane that would be offloaded later or left on the aircraft for safekeeping on a transit to another destination, which would influence Other members of the drug cartel attempting to rob the drug consignment. This scenario is very plausible considering the Gambia has become a Narco state with the frequent seizure of tons of drugs in the country and other seizures outside the country associated with cartel operations in the Gambia, and similar incidents are only reported in narco state countries.
The reported alleged incident resonated with the Open Gambia Platform due to an article published three months ago in mid-April 2025 concerning a whistleblower alerting the public of the president of the Private jet and the mysterious behaviour of the people operating the Aircraft, which involves the controversial Ababacarr Jawara and other unknown foreigners.
Open Gambia launched investigations to discover the details of the alleged incident by contacting multiple trusted contacts operating with stakeholders at the BIA.
Our contacts narrated that the alleged incident was revealed on Monday, the 7th, that some individuals had tampered with the flight belonging to Mr Babucar Jawara of GACH GROUP of companies. Our contacts indicated that on Tuesday, the 08th, they noticed some unidentifiable individuals around aircraft stand( 1), where the said tampered aircraft was packed, they couldn’t identify because they were far away. These unknown individuals at the crime scene entered the airport by 20:00 and were there until midnight, as confirmed by some of their colleagues on the ground.
Our contacts stated that what baffled them was that the BIA and GCCA authorities confirmed that some people tried to tamper with the flight. They do have CCTV footage showing two individuals leaving the aircraft at a specific time of night.
Our contact at the BIA confronted the authorities, who stated that they have evidence of CCTV footage of the incident, with significant doubt because there is no CCTV at that point at the Tacmac within the airport. Our contact asked, “If the authorities’ claims are true, why don’t they arrest those individuals for questioning?” Our contact finally lamented that the matter is down now, and not everyone at the airport was aware of the incident before it leaked to the online media.
The police release a press statement that reads
“Police have investigated a suspected break-in involving a private aircraft at Banjul International Airport. The plane, registered as PR-OOF, was discovered on 8 July with the pilot’s door open and several items missing, including tools, beverages, and electronic flight equipment”.
The Gambia Police Force said on Monday that “no signs of forced entry were observed.”
Please read the previous article, re-share it, and publish it on 14th April 2025 to get the comprehensive context of the incident and follow the page for subsequent development in the alleged incident.
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You can now write for the Open Gambia Platform, share information anonymously, and join the community. Please share your stories! Anon contributed to the article on July 15th, 2025! Contributors’ views are strictly personal and not of The OpenGambia Platform!
