By Mammy Saidykhan
Shop owners at Serrekunda Market on Wednesday called on the Kanifing Municipal Council to perfect efforts aimed at arresting the recent rise in burglary incidents at the market.
Serrekunda Market, one of the largest business centres in The Gambia, is hit by a new rise in burglary cases. Shop-owners blame the situation on lack of proper security.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Fatu Network, Buba Drammeh a vendor at the serrekunda market said thieves had broken into his shop and took some items.
“I was sleeping when I received a call and I was told that some thieves broken in my shop and they took some items, a friend told me that he recongised my bag in which my laptops were in,” Buba said.
“I went to police and it was confirmed that they were my laptop, we have a technician, who was given two phones to repair, an iPhone5S and an iPhone6S, he said he didn’t see those phones.”
According to Drammeh, incidents of burglary is on the rise at the market, a situation that has been made known to the authorities.
He said: “This is too much, we had two break-ins last year in the same market. We made our reports and the police said they will do their investigations. In November, they (thieves) attempted to break three shops but they succeeded in breaking one. In December again, they stole 56 mobile phones and 20 laptops at different shops.”
Abdoulie Nget, another shop-owner, said: “We were told that our shop was broken by thieves but when I came, I realised that they attempted to break in but couldn’t succeed.”
Demba Njie, on his part, said: “The problem is worsening by the day. [In] the past two years, every two [or] three months [there] will be a break-in case, sometimes two to three shops.”
