“They Said I Was Under Arrest”: Sierra Leonean Journalist Festus Conteh Recounts Armed Robbery Attack on Freetown Street
A Sierra Leonean journalist and documentary filmmaker has revealed that he narrowly escaped what appeared to be a coordinated kidnapping attempt on the streets of Freetown, after a gang of armed men ambushed him inside a commercial tricycle following a public event in the city.
Festus Conteh, editor and founder of investigative journalism platform Ground Report Africa, said the attack occurred on his way back from the MACOSA Cocktail event, and that it only became clear the following day when news broke of the arrest of a group of armed robbers that the men who attacked him were likely members of the same gang.
“When I saw an update about the arrested armed robbers, it hit close to home,” Conteh said. “Because guys from the same gang attacked me yesterday.”
Conteh said he boarded a Keke the three-wheeled motorised tricycle widely used for short-distance transport across Freetown and found one passenger already seated inside alongside the rider. What appeared to be an ordinary journey quickly unravelled.
“About two minutes into the ride, near the car wash on the hill heading toward Hill Cut from the Dwarzack end, a huge guy flagged down the Keke and got in, squeezing me into the middle between the two of them,” he recounted. “I immediately sensed something was off and braced myself.”
Conteh said he had earlier informed the rider that he needed to reach Imatt a destination he described as one that is difficult to find Keke transport for and that the rider had agreed, claiming the other passenger was also heading in that direction. He now identifies that claim as the first red flag he failed to act on.
As the tricycle approached the area near Navo Drive, heading toward Limkokwing University, the trap closed.
“The guy on my left pressed his arm against me and said I was ‘under arrest,'” Conteh said. “My survival instinct kicked in. I asked him if he’d been smoking kush, and he responded, ‘You think this is a joke?’ The guy on my right then grabbed me roughly by the collar.”
Conteh said he turned and attempted to push the man on his right out of the moving vehicle. The rider’s response removed any remaining doubt about the nature of the situation.
“The rider told me, ‘Padi, cooperate you want to die quick?’ And that’s when they flashed their weapons,” he said. “He diverted down Navo Drive.”
Faced with armed men on both sides and a complicit rider steering him toward an unknown location, Conteh said he made a deliberate decision: to resist, regardless of the consequences.
“I made up my mind right there. I would rather fight back than let these men take me somewhere and kill me,” he said.
As the Keke slowed slightly, Conteh forced himself to the right and shoved the man seated beside him with enough force that the vehicle threatened to tip. Faced with the prospect of the tricycle crashing, one of the men broke.
“Realising we were about to fall and damage the vehicle, he shouted, ‘Wait! Make we break! Lamin, break! Sam, break!’ The rider hit the brakes and that’s how I got out,” Conteh said.
He said he stood his ground after exiting, daring the men to confront him openly. Instead, they turned on him with insults, executed a U-turn in the direction of Imatt, and sped away.
It was only after the adrenaline subsided as he attempted to find a motorcycle to pursue the fleeing Keke, knowing a police checkpoint lay ahead that Conteh realised his money had been taken during the struggle. He was unable to give chase in time.
Conteh said he lost 250 leones in the attack and sustained a sprained arm. He described both as tolerable losses against the alternative.
“I survived, and that’s what matters,” he said.
His account, shared publicly on social media after news emerged of the gang’s arrest, drew widespread attention across Freetown and prompted an outpouring of responses from fellow journalists, civic figures, and members of the public. Many noted that the level of coordination described a complicit rider, pre-positioned passengers, a planned diversion route points to an organised criminal operation rather than an opportunistic street robbery.
Read Also: At Least Eight Feared Dead in Rokel Container Junction Crash Along Waterloo Highway
Conteh used the platform to issue a direct warning to residents of the capital: “Please be careful out there. Kidnapping and armed robbery are very real I’ve now lived it. Stay safe.”
The attack raises fresh questions about the safety of commercial tricycle transport in Freetown and whether existing law enforcement measures including roadside checkpoints are sufficient to deter increasingly brazen criminal networks operating within the city’s public transport system.
