Douala: Military embarks on illegal house searches, extortion of locals

Reports coming in this morning from Douala say military personnel are roaming about in Bonaberi where they are forcefully entering into houses while conducting illegal searches without warrants.

Our informants in Bonaberi say they are seldom told by the military officials why their houses are being arbitrarily searched nor what they are looking for.

From what we have gathered from different witnesses, they simply enter these houses in search of expensive gadgets and appliances then demand for receipts to these.

“…they came into our house, asked for our ID cards which we gave…then they asked for the receipts of all our electronics. My father asked him what right he had to ask for his electronics receipts… my father provided the receipts, but then they asked him to give them something so they can go… so my dad gave them 10,000FCFA and they left to the next neighborhood,” revealed one of our informants in Bonaberi.

“This has been going on since morning,” he added.
Another informant revealed to Mimi Mefo Info an identical story still in Bonaberi. He revealed they were surprised by the military officials as early as 5:00 am this morning. They came in demanding for receipts for appliances.

“After storming our house, they demanded for our ID cards which three of us all provided. They then demanded receipts for our electronics. We presented all to them. We have two TV sets but just one had a receipt. So they ordered us to carry along the other TV and follow them with. It was only after endless pleading that we gave them 5,000FCFA before they let us go,” he testified.

Mimi Mefo Info