March 11, 2021
Albert Baron Ansu
It is more than a rumor spinning from the Liberian border town of Gendema and racing inland the country, purporting that some Sierra Leone miners stole a diamond from Cape Mount in Liberia and smuggled it into Sierra Leone.
The account states that the Sierra Leonean miners allegedly gave the purported diamond for safe keeping to one Mohamed Sheriff based in Gondama. When the later went for the supposed diamond of undisclosed caratage, Sheriff is said to have produced a stone as what he received from the boys wrapped up in sheet.
The narration continued that the owner of the purported diamond from Liberia crossed over to Sierra Leone and had to report the matter to the Police in Bo, a claimed that has been denied by Police Media Officer in Bo.
A-Z Newspaper asked the Police Media Officer at the Gendema border, Thomas Rogers, about the possibility of a case of such sensitivity jumping over their station to be investigated in Bo. He expressed doubt, yet admitting that he had also obtained hints about the diamond to stone story.
Paramount Chief Mustapha Jengeh Massaquoi (111) of Sorogbeima Chiefdom, Pujehun District said he heard about the allegation. He said the claim has been dismissed as a wild allegation made against Mohamed Sheriff.
Cross border diamond illicit diamond mining activities had for a long time been an intractable issue that was captured in the blood diamond narrative leading to the Kimberly process in certifying diamonds from the sub region in the world market.
There are ongoing discussions to reopen the Sierra Leone Liberian border, signaling a lull in COVID 19 incidences in the two neighboring countries. Border residents