Magistrate Krubally opts for a fine over prison in Banjul ferry terminal cannabis case, citing judicial precedent on first-time offenders.
A man found carrying more than two kilograms of cannabis at the Banjul Ferry Terminal was on Monday convicted and ordered to pay a fine of D150,000 or face two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
Muhammed Jallow a first-time offender with no prior criminal record, entered his guilty plea at his first appearance before Principal Magistrate M. Krubally maintained that plea through every stage of proceedings.
The case, prosecuted by ASP MA Mendy (DLEAG), originated on 10 November 2025 when narcotic officers conducting routine passenger profiling in the waiting room of the Banjul Ferry Terminal stopped Muhammad Jallow as he returned from Barra. Invited to the DLEAG office for screening, officers opened the bag he was carrying and found three bundles of cannabis hidden inside a black nylon bag and wrapped in cement paper.
Muhammad Jallow told officers the drugs did not belong to him. He said they had been given to him by a friend from Jinac village, with instructions to deliver them to Banjul.
Muhammad Jallow was arrested on the spot, cautioned and charged by NCO2 Amadou Dibba in the presence of independent witness Mustapha Fofana. Both cautionary and voluntary statements were thumb-printed by the accused. The following day, 11 November 2025, the drugs were transported to the Weights and Measures in Bijilo, where they were formally weighed and a certificate issued.
The substances were subsequently submitted for laboratory analysis under sample reference DLEAG 1071/2025.
When the matter was called again on 4 May 2026, defence counsel E. Jamanka did not object to the admission of any of the prosecution’s five exhibits the drug consignment itself, the cautionary and voluntary statements, the 24-hour report, the weighment certificate, and the analytical report. All five were admitted without a contest.
Muhammad Jallow confirmed the brief facts as read to him and acknowledged them as correct and true, prompting the Magistrate Krubally to enter a conviction.
In mitigation, counsel Jamanka urged the court to step back from a custodial sentence. She highlighted her client’s clean record, his full cooperation with investigators, his prompt guilty plea, and his family responsibilities.
“Custodial sentence should be a last resort particularly for offenders who have demonstrated remorse and are ready to be rehabilitated.”
Counsel Jamanka described a custodial term for a remorseful, first-time offender as counter-productive, calling instead for a sentence that would give the convict a second chance to rehabilitate and become a law-abiding citizen.
Magistrate Krubally acknowledged the gravity of the offence noting that the charge was for drug trafficking, not mere possession but accepted the mitigating arguments. Invoking the case of Nyabally v The State, in which Justice Chomber P. cautioned sentencing magistrates against reflexively imposing custodial sentences on first-time offenders where a fine could be imposed instead.
Magistrate Krubally ordered Muhammad Jallow to pay D150,000 in default of a two-year term of imprisonment.
