Gambian police have in custody two men accused of luring Mahawa Cham and Saul Ndow into the trap of former President Yahya Jammeh. Cham [a former Kiang East National Assembly Member] and Saul Ndow [a Gambian businessman based in Ghana] lived queitly in Dakar until Lawu Jarju and Swandy Camara invited them to a meeting in Casamance. Cham and Ndow were reported to have been summarily executed by Yahya Jammeh’s assassins.
Lawu and Swandy, who hailed from Kiang Masembe and Foni Bwiam, respectively, have been in detention since their arrest on Tuesday. They are said to be helping the police in their investigation into how Mahawa Cham and Saul Ndow fell into the hands of a blood-thirsty dictator. Mahawa and Lawu are first cousins who both hailed from the same village. Mahawa was an uncle to Swandi.
Swandy [nicknamed Swansi] and Lawu are accomplished mercenaries who fought for Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia rebel movement during that country’s rebellion. Both men are known for their brutality in the battle front.
Lawu Jarju is said to have already confessed to his involvement in the planning and execution of the abduction of Mahawa Cham and Saul Ndow.
Mahawa Cham’s relatives are preparing to organise funeral prayer session for him on Sunday. This will create avenue for relatives and friends to pay their last respect to the man who championed their course.
Mahawa Cham and Saul Ndow were abducted in Senegal’s Cassamance province in April of 2013. The duo was set up by Lawu Jarju and Swandy Camara with the hoping of helping the. out to get rid of Yahya Jammeh.
But what was unknown to Saul and Mahawa was that the former mercenaries were in fact paid by Yahya to infiltrate their group. Cham and Ndow were kidnapped and taken to the Gambia as soon as they arrived in Casamance. Although erudite security sources confirmed the execution of Cham and Ndow, the Jammeh regime remained tight-lipped on the case.
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The Police are back to doing what they are supposed to do; the enforcement of the rule of law… creating an environment where the rule of law prevails… justice ensured for all. That is The Gambia I used to know and that is the country we missed for the past two decades.
The Gambia, see you soon after the completion of my projects.
Morro Touray.
@Morro, I think the police should be urged to inculcate the individual self-intetrities required of their persons, despite meagre salaries paid to them in this new dawn of the Gambia. I think they should be upgraded to standards with regards to qualifications, professional training, equipment and infrastructure. The police and their behaviuor is the first indications of the lack of law in the Gambia and many African countries.These are hard times that every citizen needs to put in something for nothing but for Gambia and the future of her children.
Well said Ggapm! You are absolutely right in all respects.