Law enforcement in Sierra Leone continue to be faced with huge challenges ranging from constant compromises of law and order to deliberate connivances offenders everywhere in the country against the general safety and security of the state.

Law enforcement agents including personnel of the Sierra Leone Police and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces are always in fraudulent league and support of offenders, especially those in the business community for money.

Their acts are mostly legitimized by orders from their bosses and top government operatives including ministers…

The SLP and RSLAF joint aiding and abating of the unlawful business activities of certain importers of expired and unlabelled rice products into the country is certainly on the increase.

A case in point is the processing of poorly handled Lebanese-Indian SAMCO Fishing Company’s expired and unlabelled rice at the company’s cold room turned into a warehouse at Cline Town east of Freetown. At the SAMCO Fishing Company cold room being used to store thousands of tonnes rice that are unfit for human consumption were recently discovered under a heavily armed police and military personnel guard.

Speaking recently to the SLP and RSLAF personnel erroneously deployed at SAMCO Fishing Company cold room, Micheal Kondonor, a Police attached to the Central Division and Hindolo confirmed to a team of investigative journalists who were at the SAMCO storeroom on a fact finding mission, that they are being deployed at the expired and unlabelled rice store by their top military and police bosses.

“I am attached to the Central Police Division but I was deployed here by my boss from the Ross Division, to provide security for the company. So can I also see you identity cards as means of identifications of yourselves,” explained and asked the SLP personnel from Central Division, Michael Kondornor ,who frantically tried to defend SAMCO Fishing Company.

“In an attempt to reach the management of SAMCO to fully authenticate the company’s importation, supply and sales of unlabelled and an expired rice into Sierra Leone, the RSLAF personnel Hindolo said: “No! You cannot reach him or them via whichever means because it is not your responsibilities to do so. It is also not my job to allow you people to talk to him or any staff of SAMCO. In fact, they are not around now”. When the team asked the RSLAF personnel Hindolo for an appointment in order to see the management of SAMCO Fishing Company for subsequent visit, he replied: “I cannot confirm that because it is not my responsible to allow you people to see nor talk to any of the top management staff”.

The team of investigative journalists however told the two state security SLP and RSLAF personnel who are in connivance with SAMCO Fishing Company to supply and sell unlabelled and expired rice to the public that: “You are at liberty to go and report or write anything you like.

But I also have the right to file a law suit against your media houses should in case you present any inaccurate report against us and SAMCO Fishing Company. While on the spot, SAMCO Fishing Company sales agents were busy selling thousands of bags of the expired and unlabelled rice to the business community across the country including petty traders. SAMCO Fishing Company who lacks the capacity to store rice, use its cold rooms as warehouses for the storing of its expired rice, from where it directly supply stores.

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