Seedy Mukhtar Touray, The Inspector General of Police
By Fatou Sillah
The Inspector General of Police, Seedy Mukhtar Touray, has reaffirmed the commitment of the Gambia Police Force (GPF) to its duties and the rule of law, emphasizing that the force will never be compromised in carrying out its responsibilities.
Speaking at a recent press conference, IGP Touray made it clear that no one would be allowed to undermine the police’s work, particularly regarding vehicles without number plates, which will no longer be tolerated.
“We are not, and we will never be compromise. You have your number fixed in front of the car, but at the end you deliberately remove it with a simple pretext or excuse to say it’s damaged or broken. This will not be accepted any longer, and instructions have been given to officers of the mobile traffic unit to ensure these directives from the Inspector General of Police are implemented to the latter,” he said.
IGP Touray also addressed growing concerns about security in the country, acknowledging the threat posed by recent events. “Recent happenings in the country leave much to be desired. The general public was threatened. Life and properties were equally threatened. Robbery cases are on the increase. The spike was attributed to a lot of factors. And some of these factors included, but were not limited to, the inability of the Gambia Police Force, the ineptitude, as some will put it, of the Gambia Police Force, to be able to effectively and adequately police this nation.”
Despite the challenges, Touray emphasized that the police would take full responsibility for their role.
“We take responsibility. We don’t shy away from our statutory responsibility. But we equally know all efforts are put in place to ensure crime is minimized. And the support that we are getting also from the executives, more especially in their own small way, is appreciated,” He Said.
The IGP also provided a historical overview of armed robbery incidents in the Gambia, beginning with a notable case from 2014. He explained that police investigations have linked certain suspects to robberies dating back years.
“I will take you through, by sequence, incidents of armed robbery that have been happening in this country, not only recently, but dated way back to 2014, when some robbery cases were reported by the police. By the civilian, of course, to the police, or the affected institutions.
“But today we are able to link some of these suspects to those robberies that occurred well before the advent of the new dispensation. And to start with, in 2014, Guarantee Trust Bank at Bakau was robbed; the principal suspect in that robbery case is called One Ansumana, otherwise known as Ansu Jarju, a resident of New Jeshwang in Sere Kunda,” He Said.
Furthermore, IGP Touray provided a detailed timeline of significant armed robbery incidents in the country dating back to 2014, including both civil and institutional reports. He highlighted the case of a robbery at Guarantee Trust Bank in Bakau, where the principal suspect, Ansumana Jarju (also known as Ansu), was implicated.
“He was arrested, sent to the remand wing, and when he started appearing before the courts, he jumped bail and disappeared in thin air and nowhere to be seen. Again, on the 4th of September 2022, a case of robbery was reported, which happened around Senegambia area. The proprietor gave some money—a lot of money—to this same suspect, Ansumana Jarju, otherwise known as Ansu, to go and pay some of his workers,” he explained.
The IGP further detailed other criminal activities involving Jarju, including a robbery case in September 2022, when he absconded with a large sum of money intended for workers in the Senegambia area. Despite efforts to arrest him, Jarju managed to evade capture and fled to a neighboring country, continuing his criminal activities sporadically in the Gambia.
He also mentioned Jarju’s collaboration with an Ivorian national, Lesene Jabate, which facilitated the expansion of their criminal network. Both suspects have been linked to multiple robberies.
“He left with this money, abandoned the car, where some items were recovered, including his own national identity card. This time around, also, he was able to evade arrest and also move to a nearby country, where intermittently he will appear briefly in the Gambia, conduct his operations with his accomplices, and then go back to that same location or destination. Most of the time, Ansu built up a friendship with one Lesene Jabate, an Ivorian national.
“They were all remanded at my two central prisons, and this was where they built up a relationship. Subsequent to their disappearance, they escaped, they teamed up together, and they started conducting their operations,” IGP Touray revealed.