Yaounde: Police parades gang specialised in swindling people of millions of FCFA.

The Commissioner of the Central Police Station No.3 in Yaounde, Police Commissioner Ekema Francis Kange, oversaw the presentation of the suspects. 

Commissioner Kange identified the four suspects as: Chtuing Mireille,47; Fonocho Elvis, 41; Meguemkam Rosine, 44 and Zefack Patrick, 44. The police commissioner said they suspects were arrested on August 7.

Commissioner Kange told reporters that the gang operated nationwide with bases in Douala and Yaounde. The police official said the suspects have through dubious operations caused enormous damage to citizens.

He said police have over 22 reports indicating the suspects have swindled people of at least 135 million FCFA. The figures, he said, are from victims who have reacted two weeks after they were arrested.

Gang’s modus operandi  

According to Commissioner Kange, the group operates using a taxi. He explained that after picking up their victims, one of the suspects poses as either an Imam or a pastor. The others, he told reporters, pose as driver and a passenger.

Once an unsuspecting individual encounters the suspects, Commissioner Kange said they come up with a false story about huge sums of money that was stolen out of the country and needs cleansing.

“When they are in a taxi, anybody can break them. By the time a victim gets into the taxi, they begin a discussion with one of them speaking with the driver about his brother who went to Gabon or Congo, stole money from one of the ministers for whom he was working as a guard or a house help,” the commissioner noted. 

He said once the first part of the story is told, “…the other person will in return ask if indeed what the person was saying was true. The other who is a member of the gang, will confirm. They will stop the vehicle and with the driver, they will both go to the car trunk and check. After checking, they come back with a plastic bag filled with money”.

Commissioner Kange said after this phase, the supposed clergy among them will then claim the money in question is cursed and needs cleansing since it was stolen and is also coming from a different country. 

At this level, he said a victim is them deceived to bring his/her money to add to what needs cleansing on claims that they have touched the money coming in from another country that is also going to be cleansed.

“As part of the false cleansing process, the gang will start with the other person who is part of their gang. They will go to the person’s house or a bank. While there, one of them will go inside and later come out with a plastic bag containing an amount of three million which is part of the money that the gang has been using to carry out its actions,” the Commissioner further narrated.

He said the same false act will be performed by another member of the gang, further convincing the ignorant victim who will then fall into their trap by surrendering money.

Commissioner Central Police No.3 in Yaounde, Ekema Francis Kange, addressing press 

How suspects fell into police dragnets 

Going by Commissioner Kange, the suspects fell into police dragnet after a report from a potential victim and the timely intervention from the police. 

He said this was after the Delegate General for National Security also asked collaborators to tighten security around financial institutions during the current back-to-school period.

He said the fortunate victim after raising the alarm, took two of the suspects to a branch of the Afriland First Bank at the Acacia neighbourhood in Yaounde. 

He said like the other victims, the informant was expected to withdraw the money in her account and hand to the gang.

“While in the bank, she signaled the cashier and that is how the two men were held in the bank,” Commissioner Kange revealed.

He said the other ladies who were left in the car near the bank with one of them on the steering, felt suspicious after seeing the escaped victim coming out of the bank without their peers. 

The Commissioner said the other members tried attacking the informant but failed as the population intervened.

Police to complete thorough investigation on group

Commissioner Kange also told reporters that his peers are working to complete a thorough investigation on the group. 

He said the police is notably keen on getting to bottom of a report that one of the gang members who is still to be caught is a retired inspector of police. 

He noted that similar efforts are also being made to get more details about a gun reported to be in the gang’s possession.

Urges population to work with police,

Two of the victims of the gang testified that the group swindled from them 27 million FCFA. Another victim said he lost six million FCFA to the suspects.

The commissioner used the opportunity to urge the population to always work with the police and other security agencies.

“We just want to tell the population to be open to the police. Since we carried out the arrests, we have discovered that so many people have been victims of the gang’s actions but have not be speaking out,” he stated. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3210 of Monday August 26, 2024