Twenty year old Mabinty Conteh was deported from Baghdad, Iraq to Senegal emaciated and mentally challenged. Her destination back home is not known as there are no other documents apart from her passport and boarding pass to trace her address back home. She was deported with only the clothes she wore.
The Sierra Leone Ambassador to Senegal, Alhaji Brima Elvis Koroma was informed on Saturday 31st October, 2020 around mid-day by Inspector Faye at the Blaise Diagne International Airport who intimated him about Mabinty’s deportation from Baghdad, Iraq via Turkish Airlines.
On Monday November 2nd, 2020, the Head of Chancery- Mr. Saidu Timbo accompanied by the Information Attachè- Mr. Ishmael Bayoh and the Protocol Officer, Mr. Cheikh Ndiaye- received Mabinty Conteh who was not acting in a normal way.
How she traveled to Iraq is not disconnected from the trafficking saga the Embassy has been battling with. Mabinty could hardly speak and do so incoherently. She could not remember where she came from. At one point she would talk about Calaba Town, east of Freetown and on the other Bakeloko in Port Loko District.
She said she is a married woman with a kid but could not remember the name of her husband.
Her passport indicates that the 20yr old travelled out of Sierra Leone in January by road to Guinea and arrived in Dakar on the 19th January, 2020. She left Dakar on January 24th for Iraq. The Embassy has taken custody of her and she will be repatriated to Sierra Leone on Sunday 8th November by Asky Airlines.
In 2019, seventeen Sierra Leoneans were repatriated courtesy of the Sierra Leone Embassy which paid their bills to the tune of $5,000USD.
In early March 2020, another 23 Sierra Leoneans were arrested for the same crime. On Tuesday August 11th, 2020, 61 out of 87 Sierra Leoneans trafficked to Senegal where repatriated back home.
The Network of traffickers operates on three Levels: The first level is in Sierra Leone where the recruitment is done. The second level the victims are brought to Senegal through Guinea by road. Upon arrival in Senegal, the Senegalese agent provides accommodation and all the necessary documentation through another agent residing in the Gulf Countries.
The third level is to airlift them with the connivance of some people through the Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar for an unknown destination.
By Ishmael Bayoh, Information Attachè, Sierra Leone Embassy in Dakar, Sènègal
6/11/2020. ISSUE NO: 7945