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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------