An 18-year-old university student in Yaounde spent four days in captivity after a taxi driver kidnapped her and began demanding ransom.
Messina Yassa (40), a cab driver in Yaounde, team up with his nephew, Nkengue Pascal (32) to orchestrate the kidnapping.
The Efoulan Gendarmerie eventually rescued the victim, identified as Alice, and arrested her abuses who are now facing justice.
Alice, aged 18 years, left the house on December 30, 2024, for school and never returned.
After a futile search, her father alerted the Gendarmerie when the kidnappers contacted him, threatening to kill his daughter.
“I set out to search for the child everywhere, later, I started receiving anonymous threat messages of death, that the child would be killed,” the girl’s father recounted.
When he filed the complaint at the Efoulan Gendarmerie, the officers were able to track down and the kidnappers.
“The different indicators he put at our disposal permitted us to carry investigation and fortunately for us, we were able to track down the suspect at the level of the Efoulan gendarmerie,” recounted Capitaine Eteta’a Anaba of Efoulan gendarmerie.
Initially, the kidnappers demanded FCFA 600,000, which they later reduced to FCFA 500,000 and then to FCFA 100,000.
According to reports, Alice had exchanged contact details with the taxi driver after he offered to pick her up and drop her off from school.
This arrangement made it easier for the driver and his nephew to abduct and abuse Alice.
This incident is one of several cases of kidnapping that go on in Yaounde.
People, especially young girls, go missing on a daily basis amid rising levels of insecurity.
