"Ex MP Owns the Drugs"

Ex-parliamentarian

Demba Baldeh, a former military officer is not
allowing to be left holding the bag as he took
turn to clear himself of allegations of drug
trafficking.
13 bundles of cannabis sativa were found in a
bag when police intercepted the vehicle of Dawda
Manneh, a former ruling party parliamentarian in
2009 in the rural Sololi village in CRR.
However, both the ex lawmaker and ex military
officer on board the vehicle have denied
ownership of the bag that contains the illicit
drugs.
Dawda Manneh had earlier said the illicit drugs
belongs to Demba Baldeh, who he gave a lift in
his car, but Demba on Wednesday countered the
accusation as he testified at Banjul
Magistrates’ Court.
“I was surprised when I learned that the bag
that was in the car boot was containing
cannabis,” the ex soldier has said.
Demba said, throughout their journey from Kombo
until their arrest at Sololi, Dawda Manneh was
exercising his parliamentary influence to avoid
search at various security checkpoints.
Even when the police intercepted them in Sololi,
he said the former lawmaker told the police that
they were embarrassing him as a parliamentarian,
but the police insisted that his vehicle must be
searched.
Among the belongings found in the car, Demba
said, he owns the bag of rice and a gallon of
cooking oil, which the ex lawmaker also claimed
as his. 
Meanwhile the lawyer Lamin Mboge has withdrawn
representation for Dawda Manneh for reasons
unexplained.
The trial will continue June 20. 2011.