Ousainou Darboe, leader of the opposition United Democratic Party, has claimed that the Barrow government is not interested in arresting fleeing Gambian drug lord Banta Keita.

Banta Keita has been declared wanted by the Gambia government after cocaine worth millions of dalasis was found at his Fajara residence. The drug lord has since been on the run after fleeing the country. 

The French-Gambian man now faces money laundering and drug dealing charges at the Banjul High Court.

However, speaking to his party supporters in Spain during the weekend, Darboe said the Gambia government is not doing enough to arrest the fugitive drug lord, whose case has been dragging on for three years now.

“If the Gambia government really wanted to arrest Banta Keita, the Interpol is here, they would have arrested him. But the government has no interest in arresting him, rather if the government has interest to arrest him, the day he fled the country, he would have been arrested the following days.”

He added: “I will challenge the minister of interior that you are not using Interpol on Banta Keita’s case, if not he would have been arrested by now.”

The opposition leader said the Gambia has become a transit point for drug traffickers and that more should be done to tackle the problem. 

“Today, I can say drugs have troubled Gambians. The Gambia has been a transit point for drugs for the drug dealers. We must all stand firm and fight against drug trafficking.

“We must not allow drug traffickers to get power in our country, because drugs bring about crimes. And these drug dealers use our banks to launder their illicit monies and this destroys a country and bankrupt the economy of a country. It also encourages corruption in a country,” he said.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba