By Fatima Kpaka
FREETOWN — The Court of Appeal has sentenced 40-year-old businessman Nuru Deen Bangapoma Bangura to nine years in prison for Migrant Smuggling, in violation of Section 20(1) of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Act, 2022 (Act No. 12 of 2022).
Delivering judgment on Monday, Honourable Justice Tonia Barnett JA found Bangura guilty on one count of Migrant Smuggling, while acquitting both him and his co-accused brother, Sheik Ibrahim Bangapoma Bangura, on two counts of conspiracy to commit the same offence.
According to the prosecution, led by State Counsel A. Jalloh, the accused conspired between September 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024, to illegally facilitate the migration of Nyuma Lamin Tengbeh. Bangura allegedly received financial benefits from Tengbeh under the false promise of arranging travel to the United States.
Instead, Tengbeh was taken to Guinea and later flown to Kazakhstan, where he remains in poor health. The court heard that Bangura had convinced the victim’s family to sell their property for NLe 300,000,000 to fund the travel, and personally oversaw the demolition and resale of the land.
Justice Barnett emphasized that Bangura was not a consular officer, humanitarian worker, or licensed migration facilitator, and that his own testimony confirmed he had traveled with Tengbeh to Kazakhstan.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered the immediate retrieval of the sold property at No. 67 Mongegba, Regent Road, Grafton, by the Undersheriff’s Department and its return to the original owner. Bangura was also ordered to pay NLe 200,000,00 in compensation to the victim for emotional trauma.
The court further directed that Tengbeh be repatriated from Kazakhstan and instructed the Court Registrar to return the passport of the second defendant, Sheik Ibrahim Bangura.
Both defendants were represented by I. Turay Esq.