Barely 48 hours after the killing of Ian Stokes, a Briton resident in The Gambia, officers of the Gambia Police Force (GPF) have again recorded another successful operation as three Nigerians were arrested on Tuesday, May 15th, 2012, in connection to the said murder.

The suspects, Michael Ifunaya Chukwbiken, Agbaeze Ugochulwou Stanley and Collins Chijioke are suspected to have killed Ian Stokes in the early hours of Sunday at the Junction Baa in Bakoteh, in the Kanifing Municipality. Two of the suspects, Michael Ifunaya Chukwbiken and Agbaeze Ugochulwou Stanley were arrested in the coastal townof Barra while trying to escape from the country, whilst Collins Chijioke was arrested at his residence in Bakau.  They are currently detained and are helping the police in their investigation.

Confirming this development to the Daily Observer, Yankuba Sonko, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), said this is the second time they have such serious murder cases committed by individuals this year. He commended the police investigators for being able to track down the alleged murderers within a space of 48 hours. “This is all possible due to the motivation accorded to the police in recent past by His Excellency, Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh. We first of all thank President Jammeh and his government for the motivation and also the Ministry of Interior for the guidance,” he said.

To the general public, IGP Sonko urged all to continue giving timely information to the police, as they (the police) cannot do it all on their own. However, the police did a lot of efforts in tracing the suspects on time, as senior officers including the IGP himself, the police commissioner of the area Biran Mbye and his deputy , the chief of Police Operations in the Kanifing Division, Landing Bojang, and senior CID officers from both the Police Headquarters and within the Kanifing Division and their teams were all on the ground since the incident happened trying to trace the suspects, which proved successful.

Meanwhile, the suspects will be charged with conspiracy, kidnapping and murder, contrary to the Laws of The Gambia. It could also be recalled that the Daily Observer had in its Monday edition of May 14th, 2012, reported that Ian Stokes, believed to be in his 40s, was stabbed on his stomach several times with a knife. His assailant(s) then placed him on the front passenger’s seat of his ISUZU vehicle with registration number BJL 9959A.

It was also reported that the assailant(s) tried to drive the vehicle away in order to set fire on his body somewhere between Bakoteh and Sukuta, but the vehicle got stuck on the sand at Junction Baa, and so was abandoned with the corpse.