Subject: [G_L] SierraLeonean arrested in Liberia on charges of conspiring to import Cocaine into the US. Haruna.
In a brilliant undercover sting operation.
Courtesy: SierraLeone Daily Mail.
SIERRA LEONE TRAFFICKER PLEADS GUILTY IN MANHATTAN FEDERAL COURT TO COCAINE IMPORTATION CHARGES
5th October 2011 · 0 Comments
United States Attorney Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
OCTOBER 4, 2011 ELLEN DAVIS, CARLY SULLIVAN,
Defendant Charged in Connection with Historic Joint Undercover
Operation in the Republic of Liberia PREET BHARARA, the United States
Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that GILBRILLA
KAMARA pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge WILLIAM H.
PAULEY III to conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.
KAMARA arrived in the Southern District of New York on May 30, 2010,
following his arrest in, and transfer from, Liberia in connection with
“Operation Relentless,” a joint undercover operation between the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) and the Government of Liberia.
According to the Indictment to which KAMARA pled guilty, documents
previously filed in Manhattan federal court and
other information in the public record:
Since 2007, KAMARA, 42, who is from Sierra Leone, has actively sought
to recruit South American drug trafficking organizations to establish
operations in West African countries including Liberia, Guinea Conakry,
Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. KAMARA has made efforts to
corrupt and influence Government officials within the West African
region in order to establish safe havens for the receipt, storage, and
transshipment of thousands of kilograms of cocaine.
In particular, KAMARA attempted to bribe high-level officials in the
Liberian Government in order to protect shipments of vast quantities of
cocaine, and to use Liberia as a trans-shipment point for further
distribution of the cocaine in Africa and Europe. In furtherance of
these efforts, KAMARA met with two individuals he knew to be Liberian
government officials –- the Director and Deputy Director of the Republic
of Liberia National Security Agency (“RLNSA”) –- both of whom
(unbeknownst to KAMARA) were working jointly with the DEA.
In a number of the meetings involving these Liberian officials,
KAMARA also met with a confidential source working with DEA (the “CS”),
who purported to be a business partner and confidant of the Director of
the RLNSA.
KAMARA exchanged a series of emails and telephone calls, and held
numerous meetings with the CS and the cooperating Liberian officials in
order to negotiate prices and make specific arrangements for the secure
transportation of cocaine from South America through Liberia. The
shipments included, but were not limited to, 4,000 kilograms of cocaine
from Colombia. In the course of these meetings, at which the CS was
often present, KAMARA understood that the CS, who was to be paid in the
form of cocaine, would send a portion of his share to Ghana, from where
it would be imported into New York aboard commercial flights.
KAMARA pled guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute cocaine,
knowing and intending that the cocaine would be imported into the United
States. This offense carries a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years
in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. KAMARA will be
sentenced by Judge PAULEY on February 3, 2012.
KAMARA was charged along with ALI SESAY and GENNOR JALLOH. SESAY pled
guilty in March 2011 and is awaiting sentencing. Charges against JALLOH
were dismissed today. Mr. BHARARA praised the work of the Special
Operations Division of the DEA, the DEA Lagos Country Office, the Office
of International Affairs of the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal
Division, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Liberia and
government officials of the Republic of Liberia and its National
Security Agency for their efforts.
This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and
International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys JENNA M. DABBS,
MICHAEL M. ROSENSAFT, CHRISTOPHER LAVIGNE, and RANDALL W. JACKSON are in
charge of the prosecution.
Culled from Law Fuel: http://www.lawfuel.com
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