The Gambian police say they cannot confirm or deny the arrest of two former members of a death squad which operated at the behest of exiled ex-president Yahya Jammeh.
Gambian social media circles were rife with reports suggesting that ex-Jungulars Sanna Manjang and Bora Colley had been arrested by personnel of an Ecowas intervention force deployed in the country at the end of a post electoral crisis two years ago.
In a bid to clear the air, ASP Lamin Njie said the police were not involved in the reported arrest of the pair nor are they privy to information confirming their detention by ECOMIG, a peacekeeping force present in The Gambia since a post-election impasse involving Jammeh ended in January 2017.
ECOMIG and the Gambian military hierarchy have not commented on such unverified reports.
Manjang and Colley were known members of the notorious Jugulars, accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings at Jammeh’s behest between 2003 and 2016.
Prior to reports about their supposed arrest, the pair were believed to have been on the run since Jammeh was forced from power and into exile after his election defeat to current president Adama Barrow over two years ago.
Reports suggested that Manjang had fled to Guinea Bissau.
This has not been independently verified.
Several ex members of the Jungulars who are being detained recently appeared before the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission and owned up to their roles in the extrajudicial killing of Jammeh’s perceived detractors, many of them civilians.
WN/as/APA