Culled from The Observer


‘Blood diamond’ suspects apprehended in The Gambia

Two blood diamond suspects, a Sierra Leonean and Belgian nationals (names
withheld) have been apprehended by The Gambia security operative,
authoritative sources confirmed to the Daily Observer. According to sources,
the two were apprehended by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) officials
with large quantity of diamond gems, after a vigorous surveillance. It was
disclosed that the Sierra Leonean national flew into The Gambia to meet the
Belgian national who collects the precious stones for onward shipping to
overseas countries.

According to reports, the blood diamonds affair had become an issue in The
Gambia in the wake of the UN panel of experts’ report which featured a
prominent Gambian national. The Gambia Government has consistently denied
this accusation, over which one of her nationals had been slammed with a UN
travel embargo. Our sources revealed that the arrest of the two blood
diamond suspects was an important development. “...It is a very good
development to hear that a Sierra Leonean national and a Belgian national
who were involved in such dealings, have been apprehended by the Gambian
authorities,” our sources stated.

Our sources further stated that their arrest would bring the attention of
the Western World and the United Nations to those who are actually involved
in the illegal activities who had been using The Gambia as a transit route
and corridor to enrich their private interests while denting the image of
the country. Our sources confirmed that the two were currently detained at
the National Intelligence Agency bureau.



_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.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
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~