Banta Keita, who was prosecuted in absentia, was found guilty of aggravated drug trafficking by High Court Justice Zainab Nguie Mboob in connection with the 2021 seizure of about three tonnes of cocaine at the port of Banjul.
The Court cleared Banta Keita (also known as Lassana Kante) of nine other counts, including all eight money laundering accusations and one conspiracy count, but found him guilty of trafficking.
The enormous haul of 2,952 kilos and 850 grams of cocaine that arrived at the Gambia Ports Authority on January 7, 2021, served as the basis for the conviction on count 2, Aggravated Drug Trafficking.
In order to prove that Banta Keita was responsible for the importation of four containers—one of which contained 118 bags of cocaine concealed among the industrial salt bags—the prosecution called 11 witnesses during the hearing. The material was identified as cocaine by forensic investigation, which included a preliminary test and a follow-up TruNarc test.
Because Banta Keita organized the cargo and used proxies and aliases (such as Lassana Kanteh) in relation to the containers, Justice Zainab Nguie Mboob came to the conclusion that he had constructive possession of the drugs. The aggravated prosecution resulted from the court’s determination that the amount of substance found surpassed the substance Control Act’s 250g standard.
Banta Keita was exonerated of the other nine accusations, which included all eight money laundering allegations and the conspiracy count.
Banta Keita was released and acquitted on a conspiracy charge by Judge Zainab Nguie Mboob, who noted that Sheriff Njie, his sole alleged co-conspirator, had already been discharged and acquitted on a no-case submission. That “a person cannot conspire on their own” was the ruling of Justice Zainab Nguie Mboob.
A white speedboat, three properties (a Fajara Waterfront Apartment, a Fajara lease property, and a Bijilo property), three cars (a Range Rover and a Volkswagen Beetle), and bank accounts at Zenith Bank under the names Circuit Long Trading and Banjul Circuit Trading are among the eight money laundering counts pertaining to the acquisition of various high-value assets purportedly acquired with the proceeds of crime.
According to Justice Zainab Nguie Mboob, the prosecution was unable to establish the money laundering charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Given that the property was bought in 2011, outside of the charged period of 2016 to 2021, the court determined that the Bijilo property allegation was untenable.
Justice Zainab Nguie Mboob ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support the accused’s acquisition of the cars and speedboat as a means of hiding illegal money. The prosecution was found to have failed to present easily accessible evidence, including as insurance records and car registrations, according to Justice Zainab Nguie Mboob.
The defense utilized the testimony of Banta Keita’s ex-wife, Defence Witness 1 (DW1), to contest the source of funding for the real estate purchases, citing her sizeable inheritance from her father in Cape Verde.
The defense counsel’s petition in mitigation was taken into consideration by the court after the conviction. The Court was lenient despite acknowledging the inherent gravity of drug trafficking as a crime that “destroys lives,” in part because the convicted individual did not distribute or profit from the imported drugs and seemed to be a first-time offender. As a result, the sentence was upheld.
Banta Keita was subsequently given a fine of thirty million dalasis (D30,000,000) by Justice Zainab Nguie Mboob, and if she didn’t pay it, he would have to serve twenty-five (25) years in prison with hard labor.
She also counsels him to make the most of the chance for introspection and recovery, and to work toward improving as a father and a citizen.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) promptly notified the Court of the State’s intention to appeal the judgment after it was delivered.
Banta Keita was given D50,000,000 (fifty million dalasis) in bail by the court while the appeal was pending, along with two Gambian sureties who owned landed property worth at least D50,000,000.
