Criminal Minds in Jammeh’s Regime: NIA Officer Lamin Saine
By Gainako
A man can be a danger to himself, his citizens, and the society at large. One such person is Gambia’s spy operative Lamin Saine, formerly Captain Lamin Saine. Saine’s spitefulness has a lot to do with his wicked nature, added to his blind support of Jammeh’s tyrannical regime. It is an open secret that Saine is blind. He lost his sight in a mine or bomb blast while on a peacekeeping mission, an account of which he chronicled in his book titled, “Ripped Apart”. To his blind nature, it is not an argument in this piece and a disable status deserve respect and sympathy, however it is used here to be more descriptive about the person being profiled.
Jammeh’s regime has many dirty octopus with their tentacles hooked up to Gambia’s societal cream. The world deserves to know of such a character. Why? He is believed to be one of those behind Jammeh’s terror machinery at the NIA, a bully organization that has tortured, raped, maimed, jailed, disappeared, and killed a lot of Citizens.
Take an example, Saine is believed to have known about the March 2006 alleged coup and hid the information to set up more people like former spy chief, Daba Marena. Why he didn’t disclose this information to Jammeh prior to Jammeh’s visit in Mauritania leaves a lot of speculation. It ended up costing a lot of lives, his former Boss Daba being a victim as well. It is speculative on Saine’s grudges perhaps and conclusive to say that he was eyeing higher position within the spy agency.
It was in 2013 when the Gainako Team came in phone contact with Saine after he wrongly detained a Gambian Journalist Abdoulie John. John, a former reporter for Foroyaa, also filed news for AP and Jollof News at the time. John’s laptop, travel documents and other important particulars were seized. When the Gainako Team called to enquire and to engage Saine and the NIA agency to let the innocent journalist go about his life, Saine was so arrogant, argumentative, irresponsible and threatening. For example, when enquired why are they having the journalist go through all that they are putting him through, Saine interjected rather angrily, “Where do you live? Go to any police station there and ask why the criminals are held there? Don’t bother me, you can go to hell!”
At the NIA, Saine went through series of recycling. In 2013, a credible Gambian paper, Foroyaa reported that Saine was fired from being NIA Director General, a position he held since 2012. Prior to that, Saine was in other units of the NIA. He was also with the Police Interpol before being National Assembly Member. Saine’s continued stay at the NIA is certainly his thirst for tortures and engagement in torturing those that Jammeh’s administration preys on. Saine like his ilk with Jammeh’s criminal regime, are the least concerned, as they do not possess any shame, no pride, no thought of tomorrow, or even what human composition is, and to the likes of Saine, life was just about taking orders from a dirty criminal like Yaya Jammeh and executing such orders whether it was wrong or right.
Imam Baba Leigh was arrested and kept incommunicado. During his paraded forgiveness show in public space, Saine was one of those that represented the state, in which all blamed was shifted on the Imam. It can be recalled that Imam Baba Leigh sharply criticized the regime for the execution of prisoners without following proper protocol. Imam received all forms of tortures including being half buried by the NIA.
Saine is also believed to have pursued and witch-hunted UDP’s Treasurer, Amadou Sanneh. Amadou was tortured, forced to confess openly on TV, and later thrown to Mile Two prison where he is currently languishing as a prisoner of conscience.
During the ECOWAS hearing on the gruesome murder of the former Point Boss, Deyda Hydara, Saine was the main witness for the Gambian administration. In his testimony, Saine told the ECOWAS courts that he was trained by both the U.S FBI and British M15, as a way of making himself credible. (Source IFJ, culled from the web on 8/12/2016 http://www.ifj.org/nc/fr/news-single-view/browse/35/backpid/33/category/africa/article/faj-commends-ecowas-court-ruling-on-the-killing-of-deyda-hydara-in-the-gambia/).The dossier that the administration brought up after Deyda’s death blamed Deyda for his own death when revelations made by Bai Lowe, a Gambian who revealed the exact details of Deyda’s death, now made the truth known. How can the very criminals be part of the body to investigate their own crime? That is all you need to know to conclude the foul play and the criminal nature of the likes of Saine.
Said and done, Saine is a criminal of the highest order, a danger to himself, his citizens, and the world at large. He stationed himself as a poisonous octopus who is rendering blind to the criminal regime. Gambians needs to know this character and remind him that when this regime goes down, his likes will face the full wrath of the law for enabling and abetting a criminal regime, false testimonies against Gambians in the case of Deyda Hydara, tortures on citizens, complicity in the regime’s crimes, and host of other crimes under this criminal regime. Saine will go down in history as an enabler and a criminal whose thirst to see Gambians tortured remains the order of his daily work.