At least five people have been kidnapped this weekend in Mayo-Rey and Mayo-Louti (northern region of Cameroon) and taken to an unknown location by gunmen, reports said on Monday.
The hostages are for the most part considered “great shepherds” in their locality, suggesting that the “kidnappers had specific indications before carrying out their operation,” Dayang Mallams, the spokesperson of the people of the village of Madingring said.
“Some attackers who were about ten arrived in our village and ransacked our houses before leaving with two members of our community,” said another resident of Kosseyel Yebe in Mayo-Louti.
According to the first elements of the investigation carried out by the gendarmerie, the kidnapping is feared to be carried out by highwaymen, who spread terror in the northern part of the country.
For the moment, there has been no claim for the responsibility of the abduction, even though some sources suspect “a coalition of criminals”, made up of Cameroonians, Central Africans, Nigerians and Chadians who often engage in this kind of activity on both sides of the border.
The hostage-taking came a day after Cameroon’s Minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo announce heightened security measures not only to better fight Boko Haram in the Far North region but also, to strengthen the fight against the highwaymen, who constantly terrorize the populations of the neighboring North and Adamaoua regions.
MBG/ard/cat/fss/abj/APA