Personnel of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and the National Revenue Authority (NRA) attached to Rogberay checkpoint, Kambia District have on Thursday September 10, arrested Alusine Kamara and Ibrahim Kamara with 2500 shotgun (hunting) cartridges, the Police said in a statement on Tuesday.
The police said that a private soldier attached to the 11th Infantry Battalion, Kambia District, an accomplice to the offence, escaped from the scene.
Official protocols are being engaged to access the said private soldier, according to the police.
Recently, the Customs Department of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) seized and turned over to security authorities four (4) boxes of shotgun cartridges smuggled into the country. The ammunitions were trafficked through Bo-Waterside along Sierra Leone’s border with Liberia in Grand Cape Mount County and Kpassagisia, along the Guinean border in Lofa County, according to Front Page Africa.
The single barrel rounds were discovered by Customs Anti-Smuggling officers during physical inspection of trafficked goods at the LRA Headquarters in Paynesville.
An investigative report of the incident indicates that the boxes of ammunitions were hidden under goods authorized and cleared for importation.
Presenting the smuggled ammunitions to the Liberia Small Arms Commission and other government security apparatus, LRA Assistant Commissioner for Customs Compliance and Enforcement, Attorney D. Blamo Kofa, said the illicit importation of small arms threatens the peace and security of the state.
He asserted that the illegal importation of small arms poses a “serious risk to the safety of the population,” and noted that these weapons could land in the hands of unscrupulous individuals who may use them to harm or terrorize peaceful citizens.
By Sallieu S. Kanu
17/09/2020. ISSUE NO: 7911