Kambia, October 23rd 2025- Police in Kambia District have arrested 27-year-old Abdul Akim Bangura with a staggering haul of 1,287 pieces of Tramadol, one of the largest single seizures in recent months.
Bangura, believed to have previously lived in the United States and currently residing in Allen Town, Western Rural Area, was intercepted at the Rogberay Checkpoint in Gbelem Chiefdom while riding with a motorcyclist. Among the confiscated items were 250 exposed Tramadol tablets and two medicine cups filled with the drug.
The arrest, reignited concerns over the growing drug trade along Sierra Leone’s porous borders. Kambia District, with its 89 crossing points spread across 10 chiefdoms, five of which lie along the river line, has become a strategic corridor for traffickers smuggling narcotics into and out of the country.
The arrest comes amid painful memories of October 2024, when at least 12 young people reportedly died from Kush-related overdoses in Kambia, a tragedy that underscored the deadly grip of synthetic drugs on Sierra Leone’s youth.
“This is a district under siege,” said a senior police officer. “But we are fighting back.”
