By Audrey Raymonda John
Desmond Charles Babatunde Frazer and Hannah Alami made another appearance before Magistrate Sahr Kekura of Pademba Road Court No. 1 in Freetown. They were arraigned before the court on six counts of possession of materials intended to be used for the manufacturing of drugs without authority, contrary to section 10 (a) of the National Drug Control Act 2008, Act No. 10 of 2008.
The particulars of offenses, stemming from an incident on Monday, December 18th, 2023, at No.19 Mudge Farm Wilkinson Road, Freetown, in the Freetown Judicial District, in the Western Area of the Republic of Sierra Leone, stated that Desmond Charles Babatunde Frazer and Hannah Alami were found in possession of Twenty-Nine (29) Polythene Bags weighing 49.3 Kilograms of dried leaves used in the manufacturing of drugs, 33 plastic containers containing liquid substance suspected to be precursor chemicals used in manufacturing drugs, each weighing five liters, with inscriptions Acetone 99.5% Propane 2.1, and 10 transparent plastic containers containing liquid substance suspected to be precursor chemicals, each weighing five liters, with the inscription Butanol 99.95% pure methyl Alcohol.
ASP Ibrahim Mansaray led Police Inspector Alpha Turay, attached to the Transnational Organization Crime Unit, to testify in court. He stated that he recognized the two accused in the dock and recalled that on March 25th, 2024, while on duty at the same department, he received a case and inquiry files from the “TNOCO” headquarters for further investigation. These files contained caution statements of the accused persons, search warrants, manifests of items, delivery orders, invoices, packing lists, and two NRA certificates. He mentioned that the accused persons had been in police custody since then, and he wished to tender these documents as part of the court records.
The defense counsel, Madieu Sesay, challenged the statement of the second accused, stating that it did not reflect the statement she made to the police. He also challenged the authenticity of the signature on the statement, claiming that she did not sign it. The defense counsel requested a trial within a trial to clear this doubt. Consequently, the Magistrate adjourned the matter for April 11th, 2024, for the defense counsel to submit his authority.
Bail was refused for both accused, and they were sent to the male and female correctional facility.