A magistrates’ court in Banjul will on Monday continue hearing testimonies in an alleged car theft which has now become a subject of litigation involving a Dutch national and an Interpol agent.

Yusupha Manneh, an Interpol agent attached to the Gambia Ports Authority, is undergoing trial for allegedly stealing motor vehicles in contravention of the laws of The Gambia.

Yusupha stands accused of stealing two vans valued at D175,000 and D185,000 respectively and the vehicles were allegedly sent by S.F. De Jong to his wife, Sohna Sarr.

In his testimony yesterday, the complainant, Sander Ferdinand De Jong, informed the court that he knew Yusupha and was advised by one of his friends that Yusupha could help him expeditiously clear the vehicles for him and at no cost.

Sander further narrated: "When I met him, I gave him D60,000 so he could pay it to the customs and excise department and also for road tax. He stopped me from clearing my vehicles on the pretext that he had someone interested in buying the vehicles. But in October of last year, I informed him that it was taking a long time and that I wanted one of my cars out and would allow him to go ahead with the sale of the other one till the New Year. I later discovered that he didn’t pay anything and I knew this through a text message sent to me by Yusupha himself."

At that juncture, the prosecution officer applied to tender the mobile phone in evidence as an exhibit since the text message was bearing the phone number of the accused but the defense counsel objected to this, arguing that there is no connection between his client and Sander. 

The message was notwithstanding tendered, admitted and marked as exhibit P1.

The accused was represented by O.D Mbye whilst the IGP was represented by Cpl. 1831 Sanyang and the case continues.