Five persons accused of having broken into a shop in Mile 91 town, in the Northern District of Tonkolili and stolen therein assorted mobile Phones worth millions in local currency have been denied bail and remanded.

Ibrahim Bundu, Mohamed Turay, Alie Koroma, Samuel Bangura and Alpha Turay made their first appearance at the Tonkolili District Magistrate Court holding in Magburaka Town on Tuesday 25th June 2024.

According to the Particulars of Offense, the accused persons and others on the run on the 13th May 2024 break into the shop of one Abass Mohamed Fofanah and stole a number of Tecno, itel phones, pen drive, solar panels and other valuable properties worth over 43 Million Old Leones. Based on intelligence from community members, the men were arrested by officials from the Criminal Investigations Department of the Mile 91 Police Station and charged to court.

Conspiracy, Shop Breaking and Larceny are among the charges the five men are currently standing trial on. Testifying against the five accused persons, Fofanah, the first prosecution witness and shop owner said he left the shop locked but later realized it was broken and mobile Phones worth millions were stolen.

The men, he said passed through the back of the shop after they had broken the shop. After his testimony, the matter was adjourned to July 2nd and all of the accused persons were remanded.

The five accused persons will make their second appearance on July 2nd. Meanwhile, they were all denied bail until the adjourned date.