A man identified as member of the Republic of Sierra Leone Arm Forces (RSLAF) was on 27th May, 2024 arrested in Tonkolili District for allegedly taking part in the Sunday 26th November, 2023 failed coup that left scores of military and prison officers dead.

Sergeant 506 Mohamed Koroma was a member of RSLAF but report states that the military officer had been in hiding after he was declared wanted by the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) for allegedly involving in the November 26 failed coup.

He was arrested in Magbondo village in Kholifa Mabang Chiefdom by a joint team of police and military officers who stormed the village with arms, according to residents and eyewitnesses.

“We saw two jeeps around the afternoon hours in the village. Minutes later, we saw two of the men entering the house where Koroma had been staying. Moments later, the men entered the room of Koroma and they ordered him to move with them or he would be shot on the spot,” a resident said.

Though Koroma was wanted by the State for allegedly being a member of a group planning to unseat Sierra Leone’s current Government when he was serving as a military officer attached to the Fourth Infantry Brigade in Makeni, the military officer was not part of the soldiers that took part in the November 26 alleged coup in Freetown.

In fact, multiple sources in the village have confirmed the officer had been in the village before November 26.

“He has spent almost months in the village before the November 26 alleged coup. But we were told he was wanted by the Sierra Leone Police for allegedly attempting to unseat President Bio’s government,” a resident said.
Residents said Koroma had been in the village for the past seven months. Other residents confirmed the officer once identified himself as a military officer.

“It’s no longer a secret in the village that Koroma is one of the soldiers wanted by the Sierra Leone Police because he did tell some of us that he’s in hiding,” an anonymous resident said.
Issa Koroma, the Magbondo village Town Chief, said he wasn’t around when the arresting team visited the town to arrest Koroma. But the Town Chief said eyewitnesses informed him the military officer was sleeping in the afternoon hours when the men in plain clothes entered the village and arrested the military officer.

The men later identified themselves as police and military officers after they had arrested Koroma. Abdul Sesay, an indigene from that village living in Kenema, sources confirmed was the one who led the men to Magbondo.

The man who led the men to the village, residents said, informed the community that the arrested soldier and his wife had been communicating over the phone for over some time now.
Koroma was allegedly beaten up by the men who arrested him, handcuffed and taken to an unknown place. There was panic in the village because initially there was nobody to ascertain whether the men were officers of the State. And there was nobody to ascertain where the men were taking the officer to.