Combating smuggling, insecurity: Customs, military step up efforts to secure SW, Littoral coastline.

This was during an assessment and planning tour conducted in Limbe, Fako Division of the South West Region, seen as a strategic point on Cameroon’s waterways.

The Customs, through the Operation Halt to Illicit Trade, HALCOMI IV, represented by the Zone I Coordinator, Senior Customs Inspector Elvis Manga, and the Commander of the Limbe Naval Base, Captain Issova Sono Séraphine, led the strategic working sessions.

The Head of Operations, Captain Lawin Mbita Meka; the Customs-Navy Focal Point; Captain Ardant Epoh Mbappe, and the Maritime Team Squad Leader, Chief Warrant Officer Koumai Passouki, also took part in the meeting. 

The meeting sounded the need for general mobilisation amongst unit commanders and teams on the ground, pooling together intelligence in real time and optimise logistical resources to transform the coastline into an impregnable fortress.

The assessment drawn up during the working session was said to be particularly encouraging as the inter-operability between customs officers and naval personnel was beginning to bear fruits. 

The partnership had led to the gradual dismantling of the logistical networks used for smuggling. By combining maritime patrols with checks at the quayside, the joint forces are disrupting the operations of illicit networks. 

The participants, at the working session, also praised the courage and self-sacrifice of the officers deployed at sea, whilst reaffirming their determination to maintain maximum pressure on smugglers.

At the conclusion of the working session, the officials mapped out a large-scale joint operation plan for the South West Region. 

In this regard, an unprecedented coalition of elite units was organised and placed under the leadership of the Commander of the Limbe Naval Base, Captain Isova Sono Séraphine. 

This elite unit tasked with surveillance operations also included the Commander of the SONARA Special Protection Company, Captain Norbert Buba’a; and the Commander of the Combat Divers Company, COPALCO, Lieutenant Landry Tamba.  

Meanwhile, the October 22 meeting came on the hills of initial talks held with the Douala Naval Base on September 28. The meeting demonstrated a fierce determination to neutralise smuggling, cross-border crime and the asymmetric threats weighing on the national economy and security.

Participants also discussed on the need to revitalise the agreement signed in 2015 between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defence. Eleven years after its ratification, it was said that the agreement remains the essential legal pillar enabling the fiscal expertise of Customs to be combined with the tactical firepower of the Navy.

It should be recalled that last October 16, in Douala, a major joint operation along the country’s coast was used to demonstrate the rapid deployment and seamless coordination of the joint Customs and Navy units.

By bolstering this united front in Limbe, officials said Operation HALCOMI IV serves as a reminder that the protection of the fatherland and the safeguarding of state revenue are not open to compromise. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3951 of Monday October 26, 2026