Addressing officers of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) after the recent killing of two PIU officers, the Inspector General of Police, Abdoulie Sanyang, said his officers would not be intimidated and encouraged them not to surrender to fear.
IGP Sanyang, speaking at the PIU headquarters in Kanifing, reminded the police that they took an oath to protect people’s lives and property and that there are risks attached to police work.
He was visiting the PIU headquarters following the shooting to death of two officers, reportedly by a lone gunman, who also critically wounded a third officer.
The victims, constables Pateh Jallow and Sang Gomez, as well as a female constable, Ancy Jawo, who survived the attack, were members of the police Anti-Crime Unit (ACU) deployed on duty in the night of 12 September at the Sukuta-Jabang highway traffic lights junction.
“We have had a lot of officers who die while serving; we bury them and 2–3 weeks later forget about them. But those two boys, Pateh and Gomez, were innocent. They were doing their job.
However, as police officers, this may be the first time such has happened in the Gambia. But, unfortunately, that’s the job for us. Those are the risks associated with the job.
But what is essential is not to be intimidated, retreat, or surrender in what we are doing. Once you put on this uniform, 70 to 80 percent of your work is risking.”
Meanwhile, Bojang, identified by the police as the “primary suspect,” was charged with murder and “an act of terrorism.”
Bojang’s sister, Amie Bojang, was accused of being “an accessory to the fact of murder.”
They were both arraigned on Friday at the Kanifing Magistrates Court, where Magistrate Omar Jabang remanded the accused at the maximum security state central prison at Mile 2, pending their appearance at the high court in Banjul, which has jurisdiction to hear the case.
