Norwegian-Gambian Suspected of Newspaper Arson

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article777565.ece

A Gambian residing in Norway is among the suspects after the printing
press of The Gambian newspaper, The Independent was set on fire by armed
men.

Inger Anne Olsen
21. april 2004

Released on bail

In January the 38 year old man was brought in by The Gambian police,
suspected of being involved in car smuggling to The Gambia. He was
arrested again last week, this time suspected of setting fire to the
printing press of The Gambian newspaper, The Independent.

The man was released on bail just before the weekend. But press spokesman
Aziz Bojang of The Gambian police confirmed to Aftenposten that The
Norwegian-Gambian has not yet been cleared of suspicion in the case.

The Independent is a bi-weekly and is highly critical of the government of
President Yahya Jammeh. On the morning of Tuesday April 13th, a group of
men stormed into the printing house, poured petrol on the printing machine
and fired on it with pistols until it caught fire.

“The staff was scared for their lives and just ran from the premises. No
one has been able to give a clear description of the culprits,” Bojang
said.

Big cars and meagre income

The Norwegian-Gambian is a well known person in his home country because,
among other things, he drives a Mercedes sports car with his special
nickname as number plate.

One month ago the man was in conflict with The Independent. He pulled a
gun during a quarrel over a disputed plot of land and was arrested for
threatening behaviour. The Independent reported the story and referred to
him as The Gambian “who is on holidays from Europe with a flare for a
flamboyant lifestyle, spiced with luxurious cars”.

In Norway, the man is listed with a net income of 200 crones. Aftenposten
wrote in December about a ring that smuggles stolen cars from Norway to
West Africa and Gambian police confirmed yesterday that the man is
suspected of being involved in the racket, but so far he has not been
charged with that.

The man demanded a written apology to be printed in The Independent but
was refused newspaper space.

“We got our information from the police. There was nothing to indicate
that what we wrote was incorrect”, Editor in Chief Abdoulie Sey, told
Aftenposten.

It was Sey who later tied the Norwegian-Gambian to the arson attack.

“When I came to the office the day after the arson, I saw this man park
close to the scene of the fire. When he saw me, he behaved in a suspicious
manner, jumped into the car and sped off”, Editor in Chief Abdoulie Sey
told Aftenposten.

Aftenposten has been able to come into contact with the Norwegian-Gambian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

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