A stalwart of the ruling APRC and National Assembly member for Kombo North,
Musa Suso, was yesterday sentenced to eight years in prison by Magistrate E
A Ota of the Bundung Magistrates Court. He was also fined a total of D370,
000 or in default, serve 12 years in prison.

Businessman Ndeneh Faal, on the other hand, got seven years jail term*. He
also got a fine of D450, 000 or in default, serve seven years in prison. The
two were convicted of drug trafficking and related counts, ending a
year-long trial. Four counts were brought against NAM Suso, ranging from
drug possession, trafficking and conspiracy to commit felony.

For count one, he was fined D20,000 or in default, serve two years in jail;
count two, D200,000 or in default, go to three years jail in addition to
five years imprisonment; count three, D200,000 or in default, serve three
years in addition to five years, count four, D50,000 or in default, serve
two years sentence.

The court ordered the sentences in counts two and three to run concurrently.
Acting on section 29 of the Drug Control Decree, Mrs Ota ordered Suso's
Mercedes Benz with registration number Bjl 6262 A to be forfeited to the
state for having been used to convey 46kg 540 grammes of cannabis sealed in
two suitcases.

Magistrate Ota said she took note of the plea of mitigation by Mr Suso's
counsel on his behalf, but insisted that Mr Suso is a lawmaker who should
protect and not violate the law. For Ndeneh Faal who was convicted on counts
three and four, Mrs Ota fined him D350,000 or in default serve four years in
prison.

He was also fined D100,000 or in default, serve three years with hard
labour. Magistrate Ota described Faal as "master planner" who masterminded
the trafficking of drugs. Faal, she contended, paid a UK return air ticket
of D7,500 for Victoria Goddard, gave her £3,000, took her to a marabout to
give them a concoction so that she would not be caught, and introduced Hon
Suso to her.

The prosecution, she opined, has proved its case beyond reasonable doubts by
bringing 18 witnesses in court, with ample evidences. She, however, blamed
Suso and Faal for making "inconsistent" statements and telling "lies" to the
court. The mobile number 992033, she went on, was not in existence on
January 14, 2000, which proves that Hon Suso told a deliberate lie in court.

At least, a dozen of Police Intervention Unit officers were deployed to the
Bundung court complex all through the hearing of the case. Earlier, during
yesterday's proceedings, counsels for both convicts pleaded with Mrs Ota to
exercise clemency in her rulings, since they were first offenders. They
urged the court not to impose custodial sentences on them because they have
large family that depended on them for survival. It should be recalled that
on January 14, 2000, Musa Suso and Victoria Goddard were intercepted and
arrested at the Yundum police checkpoint, following a tip-off from an
unknown caller.

Upon a search, two suitcases containing 46kg 540 grammes of cannabis were
found in Mr Suso's Mercedes Benz car. When the matter landed in court,
Victoria Goddard pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and was fined D10,000 by
the same court. She then became the state witness to the case and hence
provided the prosecution with numerous evidence.

As we were about to go to press last evening, it was reported that Suso and
Faal had been whisked off to the Mile Two Central Prisons amid tight
security. Musa Suso, the populist National Assembly member for Kombo North,
became the second National Assembly member of the Second Republic to be
convicted in a local law court.

According to the 1997 Constitution, Mr Suso should vacate his seat. Lawyers
Sheriff Tambedou and Sidney Riley represented Suso and Faal, while Rougie
Thomasi and Mrs Sallah Waddah led the prosecution.

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------