A fish sale partnership between a Sierra Leonean identified as Mustapha Layee and his Liberian female partner, Patricia Wilfred King turned soar Wednesday, 25th September when the former allegedly absconded to Freetown with US$10, 000 business money.
The amount was intended to procure dried fish in the provincial city of Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County, near the Liberian-Sierra Leonean border.Madam King made the disclosure to this paper at Klay Checkpoint in Bomi County, Western Liberia.
Patricia narrates that she and Mustapha Layee have been involved in buying dried fish and shipping them to the United States for the past three years, and the partnership has been favorable.According to her, she had entrusted Layee with more than US$10,000 to purchase dried fish of different species for export to their business partner in New Jersey, United States of America.
Patricia continues that after making contact via mobile phone with a local businesswoman Theresa Minor, who usually supplies them with dried fish from Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County, to ascertain whether Layee was in the county, Theresa informed her that she did not see the Sierra Leonean in the county.
She adds that based on the response from Madam Minor, she decided to go to the county herself to search for partner Mustapha Layee, but he was nowhere to be found.Patricia narrates that she then extended her search to the Liberian-Sierra Leonean border at Bo Waterside in Grand Cape Mount, and while there she came across a female friend Lucy Thompson, traveling from Sierra Leone to Liberia who notified her that she saw Mustapha Layee in Freetown, Sierra Leone on the day she departed that country.
Patricia discloses that she immediately alerted both Liberian and Sierra Leonean border security officers about the situation, requesting their assistance in apprehending suspect Layee.Meanwhile, Madam King discloses she is contemplating traveling to Freetown this weekend in further search for her business partner, whom she claims only owns 15 percent or an equivalent of US$1,500 of the US$10,000 in question.
She adds that the alleged criminal behavior of suspect Layee has caused a serious setback for her business especially, at a time when Liberia is experiencing financial crisis that is affecting businesses in the country.In a related development, a Guinean national Baba Keita, 35, has reportedly fled Liberia with at least US$7,000 entrusted in his care by his Liberian fiancée Tonia Duncan, a resident of Quiah Street, in Logan Town, Bushrod Island.
Tonia laments she credited the money from a local commercial bank in Monrovia to enable them improve their lives, but since her boyfriend Keita, who is a driver, went to buy a vehicle in Guinea in February 2018, he is yet to return to Liberia with either the car or the money.
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By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne
