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Four men Umar Baimba Kamara, Joseph Kabia (alias “Manager”), Alhaji Moseray Kabba, and Momoh Kamara have been formally committed to stand trial at the High Court following serious allegations involving counterfeit currency and unlawful possession of firearms.
The accused appeared before Magistrate Mustapha Braima Jah at the Pademba Road Magistrate’s Court No. 1 for their second hearing, where the case was committed for High Court proceedings.
The charges arise from a 17-count indictment that includes Conspiracy to Defraud, Possession and Forgery of Bank Notes, and Possession of Arms without a License, in violation of both the Forgery Act of 1913 and the Sierra Leone Arms and Ammunition Act 2023 (Act No. 24 of 2023).
According to the indictment, between July 15 and 19, 2025, Umar Baimba Kamara, Joseph Kabia, and Momoh Kamara conspired to obtain goods under false pretenses. In a separate incident in October 2024, all four defendants allegedly collaborated to forge Sierra Leonean banknotes.
The prosecution alleges that on July 19, 2025, Alhaji Moseray Kabba was apprehended in Wellington with 250 counterfeit twenty-Leone notes, bearing the marks of the Bank of Sierra Leone.
Two days later, Joseph Kabia was found in possession of similar counterfeit notes in Rokupa, Wellington. Umar Baimba Kamara is accused of printing the fake currency at Red Pump, Tengebeh Town, and was found with a Glock 22 pistol, two magazines, and forty-four live rounds all without lawful authority.
Testifying in court, Sergeant 9939 Mohamed Lahai of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Pademba Road stated that he received the case file from the Kissy Police Division on July 22, 2025. The file included search warrants, statements from the accused, and verification requests sent to the Bank of Sierra Leone to confirm the authenticity of the seized banknotes.
Voluntary caution statements were obtained from each defendant in Krio and translated into English. These were confirmed by the defendants via thumbprint and tendered as evidence in court.
Following legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), formal charges were filed on August 7, 2025. The defendants, who were unrepresented by legal counsel during the proceedings, had the charges read out and entered into the court record.
In his ruling, Magistrate Jah expressed confidence in the strength of the prosecution’s evidence and ordered that all four accused be remanded at the Male Correctional Facility in Freetown pending trial at the High Court.
