/ 14 February 2005

Gambian police chief arrested

The inspector general of Gambia’s police force was on Sunday in jail along with the West African state’s former top immigration official, police sources said.

Police chief Landing Badjie and Tamsir Jasseh were arrested on Saturday by National Intelligence Agency officers and taken to the capital’s central prison, added the sources, who would not say why the pair were detained.

Police spokesperson Aziz Bojan confirmed that the men are in custody but made no further comment.

The police sources said Badjie has not been relieved of his job.

Jasseh was detained for four days for questioning last October following a complaint from Gambia’s accountant general that 360 000 dalasi ($12 000) had gone missing from the immigration service’s funds.

Jasseh had undertaken last June to repay the money. He said in October that he had done nothing wrong.

Also on Saturday, a former minister for local government, Momodou Nai Ceesay, was detained but later released, police sources said.

Officials did not say why he had been detained.

Sources said it was linked to his appearance before Gambia’s anti-corruption committee, set up last year by President Yahya Jammeh. — Sapa-AFP