Gambia: Why is the Government Staying Mute Over Illegal Arms Deal Allegations?

Photo source: Dailymail

Some very revealing and troubling allegations regarding illegal arms deals, mentioning the name 'Gambia' have recently circulated on major international news sites and on various social media outlets. Well renowned news outlets including the dailymail, the telegraph and the ibtimes have all published a similar story of an international criminal gang who are involved in illegal arms trafficking. It is alleged that the ring leader who claimed to enjoy diplomatic immunity from Guinea Bissau (with an expired passport apparently) was able to use the presidential plane to fly from Poland to Gambia to conduct illegal arms deals.

The dailymail reported as follows:

Police have smashed an international arms gang based in Ibiza headed by a Polish billionaire who claimed to be a diplomat from Guinea Bissau. The ex-military man had a plaque put up outside his house on the island to say he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and even used the Gambian presidential plane to send military weapons to South Sudan.

Similarly, the telegraph ran the following piece:

A Polish-French multimillionaire businessman, Pierre Konrad Dadak, has been arrested in his Ibiza mansion suspected of masterminding an illegal arms-dealing network which fuelled the civil war in South Sudan.The Spanish police also said Dadak once flew from Poland to Gambia in the latter country’s presidential plane to do business, reportedly in the company of a member of Marseille’s Barresi clan criminal organisation.

Meanwhile the ibtimes came up with the following:

A Polish billionaire who pretended to be a diplomat from Guinea Bissau has been arrested by Spanish police for suspected illegal arms sales. Claiming to be a diplomat from Guinea Bissau, the man was said to have been a military veteran who had erected a plaque outside his house on the party island that said he had diplomatic immunity. Another allegation said that he used the Gambian presidential plane to send military weapons to the embattled South Sudan.

These are very serious allegations indeed and why the Gambia government remain tight-lipped over such accusations is definitely beyond me. One would have expected the ministry of information or the ministry of foreign affairs to immediately come up with a strong worded statement to rebuffed such claims. For any sitting president or government to be named in the illegal sales of more than 200,000 Kalashnikov AK-47s assault rifles, rocket launchers and military tanks; and to be further accused of fuelling the troubles in South Sudan is indeed very troubling. More so to the ordinary concerned citizen of that particular country.

Worryingly though, ever since the news first broke out almost a week ago, I have browsed through various national and international news outlets hoping to stumble on a statement in which the government strongly condemns such allegations, but to my surprise, I find nothing so far. We are therefore urging the Information or Foreign Affairs Ministry, or indeed the government spokesperson to come out clean and say something about this revealing accusations. Staying mute over such allegations is never the best option. Remember ‘silence means consent’!