Post a comment 
Controversy has arisen over the status and location of Ya Kadiatu Barrie, an elderly woman arrested in Makeni this week for alleged unlawful possession of narcotic substances, including kush and tramadol.
According to Awareness Times Newspaper, Barrie failed to appear before the Makeni Magistrate Court yesterday, Thursday, October 23, 2025, despite an earlier update from the Police North East Media team stating she was expected to be arraigned.
When contacted for clarification on the suspect’s whereabouts, the Police North East Media team stated that Barrie had been transferred from Makeni in the early morning hours of Thursday and ostensibly sent to Freetown’s Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU).
However, the then-Head of TOCU, Police Chief Superintendent Mohamed Kugba Allieu, contradicted this report during a phone interview, stating that the suspect was “not in Freetown as we speak” as of Thursday afternoon.
The conflicting statements from TOCU and the police media unit have done little to clarify the suspect’s current location or the stage of the investigation.
Police Spokesman and Head of the Police Media and Public Relations Unit, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Brima Kamara, later confirmed that the case had indeed been handed over to TOCU for further investigation, describing it as a routine process for drug-related offenses.
ACP Kamara explained that such transfers from Makeni to Freetown are standard practice and that the determination to charge Barrie will eventually be made by the Law Officers Department once the Case and Enquiry File is submitted.
Regarding the missed court appearance in Makeni, ACP Kamara noted that since the offense cannot be tried summarily, the new Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) permits committal proceedings in or by any Magistrate Court in Sierra Leone.
The official Sierra Leone Police social media accounts have not publicly updated on this specific drug-related matter, despite its wide circulation across various media and blogging platforms.
