Modou Sallah, a truck driver, who was charged with possession of 3kg of cannabis sativa, last Thursday, denied ownership of the said drugs, which were found in his car when he was transporting some luggage from Serrekunda to Basse.

Appearing before Senior Magistrate EF M’bai of the Brikama Magistrates’ Court, Mr Sallah said that  the said drugs were owned by an unknown man.  
According to him, the unknown man stopped him at Somita Village and told him that he had some luggage that he would like him to transport to Sotuma in Jimara.  He said he informed the man that he could carry the luggage but that there was no sitting place for the man himself in the vehicle as the car was full. 

“He asked me to carry the luggage while he waited for another vehicle, and that he would meet me at Sotuma,” Sallah told the court.
He further said that when he went up to Kangfenda Police Station, he was confronted by one Drug Squad officer who said he wanted to conduct a search on his vehicle.  Mr Sallah said: “When he conducted the search, he discovered the drugs (in cartons) and interrogated me.

 He asked for the owner but I told him I left him behind.  I was then asked what the carton contained, but I told him that I did not know because I did not check them. When the officer opened one of the cartons, he found some drugs. He then asked me to park my vehicle and he took my belongings including a mobile phone and D1,500 in cash”.
Mr Salleh further noted that he was taken to jail and after some days in custody, he was asked to write his statement. 

“I was again asked who owned the drugs, but I said I wasn’t the owner, the owner was at Somita,” he went on.  “I was also asked to describe the owner and I told the officers that the man only introduced himself to me as Njie,” he said.

Under cross-examination, he was asked by the NDEA prosecutor NCA (1) Ceesay, whether he, Mr Sallah, was the custodian of the drugs. He responded that they were found in his vehicle but he was not the owner.  “Mr Sallah,” the Prosecutor said, “you told the court that the cartons were owned by an unknown man. Did you know their contents?” Mr Sallah replied that he didn’t know their content.

Asked again if he had asked the man about the content of the cartons, Mr Sallah responded that he did not ask him because he did not have any second thoughts about the man.
NCA (1) Ceesay then put it to him that no one had asked him to transport the cannabis from Serrekunda to Basse and that he only did it for the purpose of trafficking, but Sallah denied that statement.

Mr Modou Sallah was arrested by the National Drug Enforcement Agency officers at Kangfenda Police Station, on the 9th of July, 2007.
The case was adjourned to November 15th for continuation.