According to Police sources, one Elizabeth Haja Massaquoi is wanted on allegations of harboring, aiding and abetting the escape of a coup suspect, Captain Mamoud Alpha Jalloh, believed to be involved in the November 26 attempted coup against the government of Sierra Leone. They furthered that she facilitated the escape of Captain Mamoud Alpha Jalloh on 16th December 2023 to Guinea. She was also questioned on the said allegations and allowed bail pending further Investigation. And that fresh information exposed her involvement in the said allegations, but when her house was raided, she was nowhere to be found and has been declared wanted.
Elizabeth Haja Massaquoi is alleged to have harbored one Captain Mamoud Alpha Jalloh, a suspect of the said attempted coup, at her Kambia home in northern Sierra Leone, after he had escaped arrest for the said offense. And had thereafter, enabled him to sneak out of the country via a hospital ambulance to Guinea on16th December, disguising him as a doctor.
Our investigation of the matter revealed that Elizabeth Haja Massaquoi was working at the Kambia government hospital and that the said wanted suspect is her known lover, as a result, when the police mounted a nationwide search for a list of suspects of the said coup, she provided refuge for the Captain and surreptitiously sneaked him out of the country on 16th December 2023, by disguising him as a doctor, on the pretext of going to collect a seriously ill patient in Guinea, so as to avoid inspection at the border.
Sources furthered that after returning to Kambia from Guinea, people began asking about the whereabouts of Captain Mamoud Jalloh, as he was known to be the lover of Elizabeth Haja Massaquoi, and had seen him around her house, and as pressure grew on the driver, who also knew the said suspect as the lover of Elizabeth and known to have driven her and the Captain around, he opened up and explained what transpired. This information was then relayed to the police, who then visited her at the hospital and asked her some questions. They then left her at the hospital. Sources at the hospital say that after the police left, Elizabeth felt threatened and told them that she was going home, but they later learnt that she did not get home, as the police were said to have gone to her house and ransacked the entire place, menacingly brandishing gun and cordoning the area.
Residents in the vicinity of Elizabeth’s house, explained to this medium that they saw heavy police and military presence at her house in the morning of January 2024, and that they too were not allowed to leave their houses. They furthered that the police stormed her house, putting all those in the compound under gun point, searching every room in the compound before leaving. The residents confirmed that Elizabeth was not at the house when it was raided, and do not known whether she had left the country for Guinea or Liberia, which bordered the country and within close proximity to Kambia.
Many believe that Elizabeth Haja Massaquoi may have escaped through the very porous border crossings of Sierra Leone, and has since not been seen. As we go to press, the police maintain that the search for the Coupists and their accomplices is still on, as well as for Elizabeth Haja Massaquoi, and members of the public are being encouraged to give any information that will lead to the arrest of any of the categories of wanted persons.
