GAMBIA: Update on State Cover-up into the Criminal Conspiracy between Members of the Security Sector and Drug Cartels in The Gambia

LATEST: Update on state cover-up into the criminal conspiracy between members of the security sector and drug cartels in The Gambia.

We have been alerted to a conspiracy by the state to cover up for the drug trafficking syndicate involving some personnel in the state security sector, mainly the Gambia Navy. The investigation opened a Pandora’s box, with links to persons occupying high public offices, which could have collapsed the Barrow administration. The details from investigations also indicate the involvement of private sector operators, campaign contributors to President Barrow and his NPP, and beneficiaries of government contracts.

Plans are therefore afoot to ‘fix’ the outcome of investigations of the confiscated suspected liquid (cocaine) drugs, found in 300 gallons of 20-litre containers, which they want to claim were disguised as petroleum products. The aim is to reduce the magnitude of the crime and adjudicate the offences and offenders through internal disciplinary processes. This will likely mean that the hearing will be held in-camera (held in secret), with the heaviest sentence being termination of service. This translates to institutional corruption and a deliberate policy of aiding and abetting criminals to commit major crimes with impunity. This has all the hallmarks of the modus operandi of a Narco-state.

We published our findings to preempt the state’s intentions to cover up the crime, shield the culprits, and scupper the investigations. We request justice be done in this and every case and ensure that those found guilty are duly charged and sentenced to dismantle the drug cartel syndicate operating in the country.
Read the initial findings below for the subsequent publication. We will analyse the Entire investigation.

                     BACKGROUND! 

In early June 2025, Open Gambia Platform was informed by the Gambia Armed Forces GAF members that some of their colleagues were arrested and under investigation for involvement in a conspiracy to traffic drugs into and out of the Gambian jurisdiction. Most of the detained personnel are The Gambia Navy officers of various ranks. No civilian is presently under detention. Since the arrest of over a dozen security officers, the GAF, or the state, has failed to report the matter in the press, and the investigation lacks transparency, making people suspect a cover-up.

Disclaimer: Due to the investigation’s lack of transparency, we can’t verify some key information, which we will hold back until we can confirm the details. We have to publish the information we accessed for now, to keep the spotlight on the case. We have received information that the cover-up is nearly completed and the investigation will likely be shut down soon to protect the culprits.

          INFORMATION WE RECEIVED! 

1. Two powerful speedboats, registered as Altima One and Two, belong to a drug cartel syndicate operating in The Gambia’s waters, disguised as sports fishing vessels. We can’t determine the duration of the boats’ presence in the Gambia because the registration of the small vessels was obtained dubiously.
2. Before June 2025, a Navy patrol team in the Atlantic Ocean intercepted one of the speedboats(Altima One), and two suspects on board were arrested—a Senegalese, Ebrima Jomm, and a Moroccan, Mohammed.
3. The speedboat was equipped with 3 X three three-hundred-horsepower engines, high-communication equipment, an internet connection, and provisions that allowed it to stay at sea for long periods. The suspects deleted the GPS data, preventing any traceability of their activities.
4. The Navy found 300 X 20 litres jerrycans containing a liquid substance suspected to be drugs, likely cocaine, not petroleum products.
5. The Navy Commander, Fara Jobe, was informed of the speedboat’s impoundment and was at the pier waiting with officers from the Drug Law Enforcement Agency (DLEAG) for the vessel’s arrival.
6. The suspect’s information indicated that their colleagues’ Altima Two speedboat was ahead of them and might have already docked elsewhere, undetected. The Navy patrol team swiftly sailed to Lamin Lodge in search of the second boat, but they couldn’t trace it. Allegedly, Commander Fara Jobe refused to sign a fuel voucher for a continued search along the creeks and the coastline for the speedboat. As a result, the search party abandoned the mission.
7. After the speedboat and two foreign suspects were arrested at the Navy headquarters, a man who addressed himself as Mr Farimang Saho, an Honorary Councillor for Hungary in The Gambia and President of small industries, visited the Navy base seeking an audience with Navy Commander Fara Jobe. He narrated that Ebrima Jallow placed him in touch with Commander Jobe. Commander Jobe was initially reluctant to meet Mr Saho. Still, he was convinced by the officers, present at the time, Mass Jallow, Yunusa Suso, and Baboucarr Ndow, to meet the emissary.
8. Mr Saho’s mission was to help Mr Ebrima Jallow negotiate the release of the apprehended speedboat. When asked who Mr Ebrima Jallow was, Mr Saho claimed not to know him or the circumstances surrounding the vessel’s impoundment. Still, he was involved in his capacity as Small Industries president. INVESTIGATING PANEL!
9. An investigation panel of a joint task force made of members of the State Intelligence Services SIS, DLEAG and the Navy was constituted to investigate the case involving the apprehended speedboats and the suspect with the suspect’s liquid drugs in the 300 Gerrycans. The DLEAG Director of Intelligence, Mr Ceesay, chaired the panel.
10. Mr Essa Jaiteh, a staff member from the Gambia Maritime Agency, testified about the circumstances surrounding the registration of the two speedboats as an inspector of vessels. Mr Jaiteh narrated that around July 2020, a Gambian (Names unknown to us) approached him for the registration of the two boats as the owner of a sports fishing business. Mr Jaiteh explained that he did his due diligence and sent the information to the head officer for registration, per the procedure for preparing the registration certificate.
11. Mr Jaiteh said the Speedboat registration certificate wasn’t returned to him from the head office for onward handing over to the boat owners, as per protocol. He was surprised to notice that the boat registration certificate tendered before the investigation panel contained completely different information from the information he had sent to the head office for registration. Mr Jaiteh observed that the registered certificate mentioned the two boats, Altima One and Two, each holding 3X 300 300-horsepower engines. In contrast, the information he forwarded to the head office only mentions each boat holding 1X 300 horsepower engine, as per the information he submitted.
12. Some panel members allegedly wanted to follow up on further investigating the discrepancy on the boat registration certificate, which Ceesay deemed insignificant.
13. It’s also alleged that the investigation panel’s Chairman, Ceesay, directed the two foreign suspects who were arrested on the high seas, with the speedboat containing the suspected drug consignment, to be granted bail while the investigation continues. Mr Ceesay justified his directive by pointing out that the exhibit in their custody had not been tested to confirm if the liquid in the jerrycans was indeed narcotics. He further noted the duration of the two men serving in the cells to be nearly 72 hours, preventing them from holding them any longer. Thus, called for their release.
14. On a Friday, the bail bond was set at D5 million dalasis, and it was decided that the boat engines would be confiscated if the suspects failed to appear, as per their bail condition. The investigation panel agreed to grant bail and place these conditions, even though the Moroccan suspect is known to be a flight risk. He attempted to escape by running away when they were taken into custody at Kotu; the officer had to pursue him on foot and rearrest him.
15. Mr Farimang Saho turns up at the parnel and agrees to serve as a surety in signing the bail for the two foreign suspects.
16. After both foreign suspects were released on bail that Friday, they failed to report to the investigation panel on Monday. It’s alleged that Chairman Ceesay called Mr Farimang Saho to inquire about the suspects’ failure to attend. Chairman Ceesay explained that the response he received from Mr Farimang Saho was that Mohammed, the Moroccan suspect, was suffering from diarrhoea. Ebrima, the Senegalese suspect, lost his mobile phone, which made him unable to find his way to the investigation panel. But it was later confirmed that both suspects had jumped bail and left the country.
17. CDS Momat Cham spotted the second speedboat linked to the Navy drug cartel trafficking syndicate harbour at the Kartong Navy base during his Nationwide Military installation tour. It was reported that CPO Alagie M Secka brought the boat to the Base for safekeeping.
18. Investigator can’t find the drug processing lab in the country, where the apprehended 300 Gerricans of 20 litres of suspect drug liquid were destined to be processed. ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS
19. According to reliable sources, two ex-Naval ratings, Ansumana Bojang alias Minister, and Modou Colley, recruited most of the security forces involved in the Cartel drug trafficking sindicate, especially those from the Gambia Navy.
20. The cartel’s principal facilitator within the Navy, CPO Alhagie M Secka, is on long-term sick leave. Multiple sources have informed us that he was actively coordinating some aspects of the operations by linking the cartel with the DLEAG operatives, personnel of the State Intelligence agents, and members of the Gambia Police Force.
21. We are receiving information that Lt Commander MS Jallow and Captain Yunusa E Susso are closely monitored in the ongoing Navy investigations. So far, no evidence links them to any wrongdoing within the investigation. But CDS Momat Cham is reported to suspect that Lt Commander MS Jallow and Captain Yunusa E Susso are collaborating with the SIS in a parallel investigation that might implicate both CDS and Commander Fara Jobe as the most senior service facilitators of drug trafficking.
22. The following active service officers are under arrest at Fajara Barracks, helping with the investigations.
23. Captain Abba Nyassi 2. W0ll Dampha Musa 3. CPO Secka Alhagie M 4. CPO Marong Ebou 5. PO Kuyateh Alieu 6. PO Jammeh Musa 7. LS Ndecky Alex 8. WO2 Jobe Ismaila SG Ebrima Jobe- GRA.
24. Secka and other arrested suspects allegedly confessed that they were paid D1 million each. Secka told the investigators that he had already used D700 thousand and was left with D300 thousand in his account. It’s suspected that the money earned overtime far exceeded what the suspects admitted.
    Another interesting thing that the investigators were able to ascertain is that all of them bought cars, and some bought compounds; none of them could justify the source of the money used to purchase those cars.
25. Ex-Naval ratings Ansumana Bojang, alias Minister, and Modou Colley are allegedly uninvestigated but not under custody.
26. Some of the alleged names of civilians linked to the Navy officers’ drug trafficking conspiracy are Farimang Saho, Silaba Samateh, Yusufa Saidy, and Lamin Jabbie or Mohammed Jabbie. None of these alleged suspects has been arrested.

Follow us for our analysis to respond to the coming decision on covering the Drug Cartel and their enablers.

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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 25th 2025! Contributors’ views are strictly personal and not of The OpenGambia Platform!