Sources in Freetown and Conakry have informed nightwatch that sacked and expelled former Sierra Leone Ambassador to Guinea, Alimamy Hassan Bangura, is expected to appear in court in the neighbouring state on Monday, 24th March, 2025.
Ambassador Bangura is expected to appear in court to answer to several charges relating to the arrest of a Sierra Leone Embassy vehicle inside Guinea territory, laden with over USD 100,000 (One Hundred Thousand US Dollars) in cash and seven (7) suitcases load of substances believed to be cocaine. The vehicle was returning from Freetown when it was intercepted apparently on tip off by agents of Special Guinean Intelligence Service.
Meanwhile, there is a disagreement over the exact amount of cash seized alongside the substances believed to be cocaine in the said diplomatic vehicle. The cash ranges between USD 100, 000 (One Hundred Thousand US Dollars) and USD 200, 000 (Two Hundred Thousand US Dollars)
Regardless of discordance, the fact remains that a Sierra Leone Embassy vehicle that enjoys diplomatic immunity from search and seizure at our border cross-points was arrested with several kilograms of suspected cocaine, a huge stash of cash, and an unidentified individual believed to have travelled with the consignment from Freetown to Conakry in the same vehicle.
But according to the Sierra Leone Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Timothy Kabba, the Guinean authorities complied fully with Article 22 of the Vienna Convention relating to such an incident. He confirmed on Radio Democracy 98.1D that once the said vehicle was arrested, it was duly searched in the presence of the Chef de Mission (Head of Mission), which he said is in line with the Vienna Convention protocol.
Meanwhile, investigations have revealed that the cocaine has been linked to a certain popular businessman, Alhaji Bah and several high-ranking officials at the nation’s main seaport of entry at Cline Town in Freetown.
After the arrest of the driver of the vehicle and another individual that is yet to be officially named, the Guineans declared Ambassador Alimamy Hassan Bangura, who acts as President in the stead of Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio in Guinea as persona non grata. He was consequently ordered back to Freetown for consultation, which is usually translated to mean that he was recalled to be investigated and replaced.
However, the Guineans, we have been informed, refused to release the embattled presidential envoy Ambassador Bangura, who was placed under house arrest, until after their side of the investigation into the cocaine bust completes. There is also denial that Bangura was never under house arrest although he had to answer to questions from the Guinean authorities to ascertain his involvement or knowledge of the cocaine runs from Freetown through Guinea.
Minister Kabba had however referred to the said arrest as “a grave crime” but that the erstwhile Ambassador Bangura has since been replaced. He disclosed that there was a little resistance from the Guinean authorities to release former Ambassador Bangura and asserted that the crime was a straight liability offence that could not have involved the Ambassador directly since he was not physically in the vehicle at the time of the arrest.
Nightwatch was informed that there were several shuttle missions and high level visits by senior Sierra Leonean government officials to Conakry, all in the bid to secure the release of Ambassador Alimamy H. Bangura. The country’s Foreign Minister was however able to subsequently secure his release for questioning in Sierra Leone, which immediately caused the former Ambassador his diplomatic immunity. Information that reached Nightwatch indicates that the former Ambassador’s release had a part of the conditions that he be released to the Guinean authorities when needed. The departure of the erstwhile Ambassador to Guinea is heavily predicated on this agreement.
News reports on the Guinea cocaine saga were in the meantime overshadowed by another, this time of pictures from a New Year’s Day church service at Tihun, southern Sierra Leone that featured the president not seated far from wanted and convicted cocaine smuggler Jos Leijdekkers of Netherland, who was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison for attempting to smuggle 7 tonnes of cocaine into Europe. The discovery of the cocaine and gold smuggler in the company of the first family was much bigger than the Guinea cocaine story, which stories some people tried to connect.
After nearly a month, the disgraced former presidential envoy or ambassador to Guinea, Alimamy Hassan Bangura, who is an extension of the person of president Bio, was handed over to a Sierra Leonean delegation that included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of National Security and others.
Nightwatch has been informed by sources that the recalled and disgraced ambassador was smuggled back into the country and deposited at his home in Freetown. According to our sources, his state sponsored security details have been removed. The former ambassador is expected to appear in court in Conakry, Guinea, on Monday, 24 March, 2025 to answer to charges relating to the arrest of a Sierra Leone embassy vehicle with cocaine and cash, an event that happened under his tenure as president Bio’s representative to Guinea.
“Alimamy Bangura has said that if the government fails to help him, if they don’t assist him and expect for him to take this whole rap by himself, he will name names, which will destabilise the entire government,” said one of our sources at the ONS.
Attempts to find out what actions the Sierra Leone government plans on taking against the man who embarrassed the president were futile before going to press.