Freetown, October 13, 2025 — 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 Sierra Leone’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Act of 2022.
Delivering judgment at Court No. 4 in Freetown, Justice Tonia Barnett said the prosecution had presented “overwhelming evidence” that proved the businessman illegally facilitated the movement of a victim abroad under false pretenses.
According to State Counsel A. Jalloh, between September 2023 and April 2024, Bangura conspired with others to secure financial benefits by deceiving Nyuma Lamin Tengbeh and his family.
He reportedly convinced the victim’s mother to sell family property for NLe 300 million, promising that the funds would help facilitate travel to the United States. Instead, Tengbeh was transported to Guinea and later flown to Kazakhstan, where he remains in poor health.
The Court heard that Bangura misled community leaders and personally demolished a perimeter fence protecting the family’s land, later arranging its sale to a third party.
Although both Nuru Deen and his brother, Sheik Ibrahim Bangura, pleaded not guilty, the Judge acquitted the latter, citing lack of evidence.
Seven witnesses testified for the prosecution, while the convicted businessman called one witness in his defense.
Justice Barnett ruled that Bangura had no legal authority to arrange international travel or resettlement.
“The first Defendant is therefore found guilty of the offence charged in Count Two,” she declared, before imposing a nine-year custodial sentence.
In addition to the prison term, the Court ordered that the sold property at No. 67 Mongegba, Regent Road, Grafton be returned to its original owner. Bangura must also pay NLe 200,000,000 in compensation for emotional trauma suffered by the victim.
The Judge further directed that the Sierra Leonean victim be repatriated from Kazakhstan to receive medical attention.
Defense counsel I. Turay Esq. represented both defendants.
