Police Chief Sacked as Containers of Drugs and Fake Leones Smuggled into Sierra Leone
By Abu Shaw
Sierra Leone Police Chief has finally been sacked after suspicious containers containing illegal drugs and fake money appeared in Freetown.
The final straw of the Police Chief’s dismissal came when suspicious containers alighted at the shores of Freetown this week containing narcotics and fake currency notes. Sources however say, the sacking of the Inspector General of Police Ambrose Michael Sovulla last night was a diversionary tactic adopted by President Bio to minimise the embarrassment that the dubious containers had inflicted on the reputation of the Sierra Leone government. Sierra Leone is the most unsafe country in the West African sub-region thanks immensely to the rampant corruption and uncontrolled borders under the watch of President Bio and his failed SLPP regime. (Photo: The new IG Fayia Sellu).
Since April 4, 2018, when the SLPP government of President Julius Maada Bio succeeded the APC administration of President Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone has retrogressed in all departments, ranging from rife tribalism, nepotism, human rights abuses, stagnation of civil liberties, arbitrary arrests and detentions of critics and opposition politicians, state-sponsored massacres of innocent Sierra Leoneans, the capture of state institutions, compromising the independence of Civil Society Organisations and the Media, undermining democracy to the flagrant abuse of the Constitution and Rule of Law, etc.
This week, Sierra Leoneans woke up to another dangerous incident involving the surreptitious appearance of some containers on the shores of Freetown with the full knowledge of the Sierra Leone government. Unknown to the public, the Sierra Leone Police SLP also pretended not to know the contents of the first containers. To divert the attention of the public, the SLP issued a press statement ordering the Commissioner of the National Revenue Authority NRA to hand over the first container to the police for a thorough investigation. Sources say the first and second containers did not contain any illegal items. But a thorough probe has revealed that the remaining containers contained illegal drugs and fake counterfeit Leone currency notes. (Photo: The new IG Sellu and old IG Sovulla).
And sources in Freetown have confirmed that the Office of the President, the Office of the First Lady Fatima Jabbe Bio, and the Office of the Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh are all aware of the source of the containers. The vigilance of a few Sierra Leone newspapers has exposed the secrecy surrounding the containers. President Bio and his SLPP government are now applying diversionary tactics to fool the people of Sierra Leone. Other sources say the failed SLPP government has used and misused the former Police Chief Sovulla as the sacrificial lamb to carry the blame for the unexplained containers which have become a national and international embarrassment.
The New Inspector General of Police William Fayia Sellu has taken over from the fake Ph.D. Ambrose Sovulla. The new Police Chief Fayia Sellu, a former student of the Government Secondary School Kenema, was the AIG Southern Region a year ago, where he was much loved by the people of Bo. Comparably, the new IG is better educated and more intelligent than his predecessor Sovulla. That is good news for the police and the people of Sierra Leone. It remains to be seen if police brutality will be a thing of the past under the tenure of IG Fayia Sellu. Meanwhile, another prominent appointment yesterday was the new SLPP government Presidential Spokesman in Alpha Khan, a traitorous politician widely considered to be a Trojan Horse of the main opposition APC party. (Photos: Police searching the containers).
Initially, the SLP thought the suspicious containers contained weapons after news spread that arms and ammunition had been smuggled into the country. This prompted the police to make a request on Sunday, July 22, 2022, for the NRA to hand over the 40 feet container. The police request reads thus: “Management of the SLP would like to inform the public that the container is currently under its custody at the Senior Officers’ Mess, Kingtom in Freetown. For the purposes of openness and the avoidance of doubts, invitations will be extended to the media to witness the opening of the said container at the Senior Officers’ Mess, Kingtom. Meanwhile, the SLP has begun preliminary investigations into the said container and the findings will be made public.”
Poor Sovulla has always been the Hercules Heels of President Bio’s failed regime. From unleashing brutality on innocent citizens to acquiring fake Ph.D. degrees and so many other vices, Ambrose Sovulla was on borrowed time. As we go to press, more revelations have emerged to show that the SLPP government has been playing hanky-panky games with the people of Sierra Leone. Reports say, the police initially invited the press to witness the search of the first container. But after a while, the press left the scene and it was during this gap time that the other containers were searched by the police. And those present said the remaining containers were the ones that had the smuggled counterfeits and the dangerous drugs. Investigations into the suspicious containers will continue. Keep tuned.
