Kédougou, June 22 (APS) – The High Court of Kédougou (south-east) sentenced on Thursday to six months in prison the head of the storage depot and a driver of Endeavor Mining, both prosecuted for criminal association, theft in a meeting and endangering the lives of others, in the context of a case of theft of a container of cyanide, noted the APS.
The court, however, acquitted four other defendants.
The six people on trial had been arrested and then charged in connection with the theft of twenty tonnes of cyanide belonging to the mining company Endeavor Mining based in Sabodala, in the Kedougou region.
The facts for which they (the six people) were brought before the court broke out on May 24, at the factory of this mining company.
The investigation and the trial revealed a well-organized deal between the supervisor and the warehouse manager of the Where House department and the security guards of the mining company Endeavor Mining in Sabodala.
The cyanide container whose theft led to the conviction of the two defendants was part of a total of eight containers purchased on May 14, in Côte d’Ivoire, by the mining company Endeavor Mining of Sabodala, for the needs of gold mining. Each container contained twenty tons of cyanide.
After their arrival in Senegal, the cyanide containers were conveyed to the Sabodala mine. Seven containers are unloaded at the company’s processing plant department. The eighth, taken to Kédougou on the basis of an exit voucher, is sold in the regional capital to Burkinabè retailers.
During the trial, the representative of the public prosecutor, Baye Thiam, had requested a three-year prison sentence against the head of the storage depot and the driver of Endeavor Mining.
Maître Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye, the defense lawyer, pleaded for the pure and simple release of his clients, arguing that the supervisor and the head of maneuvers had fled.
The High Court of Kédougou finally imposed six months in prison on the head of the storage depot and on a driver from Endevour Mining.
The where house department supervisor, Burkinabè retailers and other suspects have fled since the case broke.
PID/ASG/MTN
