“The incident occurred on Friday 5th Sept while the policeman and his fiancée Adamsay Tholley where crossing a river” Police
By-Mohamed Papa Bangura in Magburaka
The Magburaka Police division is investigating an incident of reported drowning of police officer 18707 Conteh Melvin. The incident occurred on Friday 5th Sept – while the deceased and his fiancée Adamsay Tholley where crossing the Makoli waters – a major river supplying the Makali hydroelectric Dam in Tonkolili.
Inspector Abubakarr Massaquoi Officer in Charge, Makali Police Post where Melvin worked earlier said he received a call about the incident on Saturday September 5th. “I was at home that Saturday when my colleague PC 17379 told me that an officer who was working with us and now attached at the Kissy police division in Freetown has drowned”
Massaquoi said he immediately sent some personnel to the scene to investigate. Upon reaching the dam, he added, I spoke to Alfred Conteh a technician at the dam, to know how he got the information. He identified the individual who told him and was arrested to help the police with further investigations.
He said they later left for Matobo Village in search of the body but the village was a ghost town as residents had fled. “We mounted a search and later found the body in the shores of the river”. Meanwhile the incident has attracted human rights activists trying to find out if there was any foul play involved in the officer’s death.
Abubakarr Munu, Public Relations Officer, Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food told Mountain Waves Blog they did not find anything suspicious about the incident “We have not seen anything abnormal. What I see is an overflow of water in the dam which could be dangerous for people. We will continue to follow up with the police as they are doing their investigations” Munu said.
The body of late 18707 Conteh Melvin has been taken to Freetown for postmortem. Two persons including his fiancée are currently held at the Magburaka Police Station helping with the investigations.