Mamadou Diop, who posed as a lawyer or a police officer, was arrested in Guédiawaye after an investigation by the Sûreté urbaine (SU) of Dakar. His arrest led to the discovery of two firearms in his home. Mr. Diop, a businessman by profession, would have chosen the scam as a new source of income by inciting desperate families to seek the release of relatives in detention. According to L’Observateur, his modus operandi consisted of impersonating a lawyer or a police agent in order to obtain money under the pretext of interceding on behalf of detainees. In December 2024, he learns of the arrest of Pape Madiop Sarr, placed en garde à vue pour escroquerie et trafic de migrants. Seeing an opportunity, he enters into contact with the detainee’s relatives, presenting himself as “l’adjudant Diop” en service à la Sûreté urbaine de Dakar. With a well-rounded police jargon, he assures to be able to free their parent on condition of paying a sum of 70 000 FCFA for “damaging the victim”. On 16 December, one of Pape Madiop Sarr’s relatives, V. Mendy, lodged a complaint against X with the urban police for a fraud estimated at 870 000 FCFA, explains the newspaper. The investigators of the Sûreté urbaine managed to locate Mamadou Diop on 30 January last. He was arrested in a nightclub in Guédiawaye, where he was celebrating without any doubt that he was in the sights of the police.
Escroquerie et usurpation de fonction: a faux adjudant arrested with an arsenal of weapons
