Some six armed bandits who were all Mbororos, made away with
over 3.5 million and hundreds of cell phones seized from travelers on the Dumbu/Misaje
road on Wednesday November 2015. This operation that took place in the morning
at about 9 am in the morning lasted for close to two hours, stopping every
vehicle or motorbike at a mounted road block and everybody ordered to lay flat
on the ground with closed eyes while they search pockets and belongings.
Eyewitness report from this reporter who was a victim losing
FCFA 9000 and two smart phones in the encounter states that, a road block was
mounted at a C-bend around Morahaji hill few minutes drive from Dumbu Town with
a big tree cut and thrown across the road. All the vehicles and commercial
motorbike were stopped at gun point and passengers ushered to lay flat on the
ground. Each time there was an approaching vehicle the leader of the gang would
signal the other gang members saying, “Amigo, Amigo, Amigo, le tapi, le tapi.”
When finally the approaching vehicle enters their lair, all passengers are
asked out with accompanying orders in demand for money and phones while swinging
the locally made guns and knives at their preys. The helpless victims emptied
their pockets in to the waiting palms of these armed bandits. As the armed
robbers looted they made fun of their victims thus, “You belong to which party,
CPDM or SDF? You vote for Paul Biya or Fru Ndi? Are we not suffering out here
on your behalf? Sensing danger if they identify with the ruling party an envoy
dispatched to collect CPDM cards from candidates for reorganization in Dumbu told
the bandits who were illiterates that he is SDF and those CPDM cards were SDF
membership cards. Some victims were lucky to have their sim cards returned to
them others lost the money, phones and sim/memory cards. When this reporter
gave them a power bank, they inquired what it was when he said power bank. One
exclaimed power!!! and gave back the power bank. The fellows were even cursing
that the passengers are the cause of their suffering on their behalf. After two
hours the armed bandits disappeared in to the bushes with no trace leaving the
victims still lying on the ground.
Victims later boarded the vehicles and motorbikes for Misaje
after sensing freedom, that is when the few security forces at the Gendarmerie
showed up towards the scene and were told the armed robbers had taken off
towards Bum SubDivision. The Divisional Officer for Misaje, Nkwenti Acha
Gilbert alerted the Divisional Headquarter in Nkambe and before long, two
military trucks were dispatched to track down the armed bandits. At Press time
two persons were already identified as suspects. A commercial bike rider who
was brutalized with the butt of a locally made gun identified one Jemelege a
Fulani from Kichako village. In order to ascertain whether the said Jemelege
was among the armed bandits as suspected, Security forces in plain cloths
visited his compound at Kichako village pretending to look for some one else
and casually asked of Jemelege’s where about and his wives told them that he
had left very early that Wednesday morning for Misaje whereas in Misaje he was
no where to be found and his phone number was not going throw. Jemelege later
turnup at the Gendarmerie Brigade Misaje and clear himself of the allegation. Focus
has been tilted on one other suspect named Buba in Mungong. Kichako village is
noted for hosting cattle rustlers and now a new phenomenon is creeping up in
the form of armed robbery. Security promises to stay on the alert putting up a
24/24 surveillance to track him and his gang down. Four day after typical of
Cameroonian security forces, they reluctant to continue the search claiming
that there is no fuel and nobody is opting to borne the cost of fuel in spite
the annual huge budget allocation for the military and security forces from
taxpayers sweat.
However there is an
urgent need for more security personnel to be sent to Misaje and in Dumbu
frontier Police post, there are less than five ill equipped elements in Dumbu including
the Commissioner with no vehicle or motorbike to start with. The Gendarmerie
brigade in Misaje has four officers which includes the Commandant. Most often
emergencies are carried out using commercial bikes with its inefficiencies.
A data collected from
some of the victims amongst those who lost money and phones
|
No
|
Name
|
Phones Stolen
|
Amount Stolen
|
|
1
|
Ignatius Nji
|
2 Smart Android
phones
|
9.000frs
|
|
2
|
Abubakar Mejinyawa
|
1 android, 1
blackberry
|
undisclosed
|
|
3
|
Dabor
|
1 phone
|
1.000frs
|
|
4
|
Ngande Bernard
|
2 Smart phones
|
7.500frs
|
|
5
|
Bashiru
|
/////////////
|
3.500frs
|
|
6
|
Seidou Iyah
|
1 phone
|
75.000frs
|
|
7
|
Johnson Ndzi
|
1 phone
|
430.000frs
|
|
8
|
Mandegue Nkpanya
|
1 phone
|
580.000frs
|
|
9
|
Pillar Company
|
phones
|
1600.000frs
|
|
10
|
Alhadji Ameh
|
1 phone
|
120.000frs
|
|
11
|
Emmanuel Ndukong
|
1 phone
|
75000frs
|
|
|
etc
|
etc
|
etc
|
