By Amara Bangura back from Kambia

Police in Kambia have arrested 5 Guinean trucks, at Bamoi Lumor close to the Guinean border, fully loaded with foodstuffs apparently meant for sale in neighbouring Guinea where an end of government subsidy triggered economic woes.

Police local unit commander in Kambia Superintendent Foday S. Conteh confirmed that the trucks, now being investigated, were suspected to be smuggling Sierra Leone's main food stuffs including rice, garri, palm oil and kola nuts to neighbouring Guinea.

This could not be far from the truth. Alhassane Sow, a trader in Conakry 's Medina market, recently told IRIN news that a 50 kg bag of rice is sold for between US$29 and US$36, the same prices the country faced during a period of hyper-inflation that pre-dated the January 2007 general strike and civil protest.

The police commander added that the government was seriously against smuggling especially of the country's foodstuffs which prices have soared as a result of shortages. He stressed that smuggling of those commodities was a crime against the state and therefore he would not hesitate to charge any smuggler arrested within the border areas to court.

Meanwhile, the driver of one of the trucks arrested with registration number RC5420, loaded with rice and palm oil, ran away immediately his truck was apprehended. A truck carrying kola nuts has been released whilst 3 others are still under police custody.

Youths' chairman of Kambia district Mohamed Masongbala said the LUC's action was a step towards the right direction.

He pledged that youths in the district would give the police the necessary assistance in future to clamp down on smugglers in and around the border. Masongbala added that smuggling was one of the causes of the underdevelopment of the district.

He called on colleagues who help minimize smuggling within the district and to continue to give the police intelligence about porous areas within the border.