Manyu Division: Gunmen attack checkpoint in Ekok, reportedly kill three security officers.

They are reported to have ambushed a mixed police and gendarmerie exit security checkpoint at Ekok, in the night of Sunday July 23, breaking Monday July 24. 

The attack, we gathered, occurred at about 1:40am. Deafening sounds of gunshots are reported to have been heard in the area. The gun exchange is said to have lasted close to 30 minutes. 

The victims, The Guardian Post gathered from sources on the ground, include two police officers and a gendarme officer. 

The deceased security officers, reports suggest, might have succumbed to the bullets wounds they sustained in the course of the attack. 

Reports we further gathered indicate the mixed security checkpoint which was attack is barely 5 metres from the Customs post in the locality. 

Some Customs officers are reported to have been at their post at the time of the attack. The Customs officers are said to have retreated and taken cover, abandoning almost all their belongings at the post. 

Attacked linked to illegal cocoa exportation?

Reports on the ground suggest that the attack, which led to the death of the three security officers, might in one way or the other, be linked to the booming illicit cocoa export to neighbouring Nigeria. Many say the illegal practice is robbing the state of Cameroon billions of FCFA. 

The worrying situation that has been giving Yaounde authorities sleepless nights have been blamed on local administrative and security officers accused of working in complicity with those engaged in the illegal practice as well as armed separatist fighters. 

The dangerous network of illegal cocoa exporters to Nigeria, is said to be making rubbish instructions from Yaounde and failing to implement the fresh ban placed on the exportation of cocoa to Nigeria by the Minister of Trade. The authorities are said to be making huge personal gains from the illicit trade. 

Tussle between administrative, security officials 

Worth recalling is the fact that last June 19, at least eight trucks fully loaded with cocoa beans that were being clandestinely exported to Nigeria, were impounded by officers of the South West Customs Sector in collaboration with soldiers.

Two of the trucks were intercepted in the locality of Besongabang in Mamfe Central Subdivision while six others were interrupted in Eyumojock and Ekok, in Eyumojock Subdivision. 

The Guardian Post later got it on good authority that disagreements had erupted, days later between administrative authorities of the Region and Customs officers.

We gathered that instructions had been given by an authority in Buea, for the trucks to be clandestinely taken from Mamfe. 

The trucks, we gathered, were again intercepted and impounded by Customs officers at Ekok exit checkpoint. This, we gathered, has been causing tension between administrative authorities and Customs officers, who are bent on curbing illicit trade. 

The porous borders between Cameroon and Nigeria and the competitive prices charged by Nigerian buyers, have also been blamed on the worsening black market in the sector within the Region.