Following the department of state for health and social welfare's campaign for vendors to sell healthy food, some people seized the opportunity to pose themselves as health officers and victimize innocent citizens.

Below, we reproduce the full text of the news release sent to the media and signed by the Honourable secretary of state for health and social welfare:

"The department of state for health and social welfare has learnt with grave social welfare has learnt with grave concern that a group of unscrupulous people last night went round in Kanifing Municipal area positioning as health officers.

The group we were told seized food and collected money from street food vendors. This is a heinous crime and must stop immediately. The matter is already reported to the police for investigation and the co-operation of the general public is solicited in bringing to book the perpetrators.

The department of state for health and social welfares ultimate objective in the ongoing exercise is to ensure that food expose for sale conforms to standards out lined in both the public health act of 1990 and the food act of 2005. This is what these unscrupulous people are out to defeat which the department of state for health will not tolerate.

We as a department of state will not relent in our responsibilities in safe-guarding people against anything prejudicial to health and will do anything within our capacity to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.

The general public is urged to ask for the identity of any such person claiming to be a public health officer and report any suspected person without a valid public health identity to the nearest police station.

The department of state for health and social welfare solicits the support of every one in this noble cause of ensuring a physical, mental and social well-being of every one living on Gambian soil."