Details are emerging on how Alagie Abdoulie Ceesay escaped from his hospital bed at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) in Banjul after the prison officers who were supposed to be guarding him were found asleep.

The former managing director of Teranga FM, who spent over six months in detention and charged with sedition for sharing a picture of former President Yahya Jammeh with a gun pointed at him, was allegedly subjected to horrific torture at the NIA Headquarters in Banjul.

Alagie was later admitted at the EFSTH and subjected to vigorous round-the-clock surveillance.

Many were shocked when the news broke that he escaped from his hospital bed and was in Dakar, from where he was seeking political asylum in a Western country.

A former NIA officer, who doesn't want to be identified, revealed Alagie's escape involved money and weeks of careful planning by his family and supporters in the Diaspora.

"He managed to flee the hospital after giving the security guards from the Gambia Prison Services a drink that was laced with an unknown substance that made them pass out."

He added: "A nurse tried to stop him, but there was no one around to help her."

Hours after his improbable escape, the State announced that "he is a fugitive on the run and, therefore, anyone who aids him to leave the country will face the full force of the law."

Despite his absence, they refused to discontinue his trial. On the 8th November 2016, less than one month before the presidential election that ended Jammeh's 22-year-old, Alagie was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of D200,000.

He now lives in Canada.