Kumba: Population decries police harassment, extortion

By David Atangana

Inhabitants of Kumba, headquarters of Meme division of the South West region have reportedly been under police harassment and extortion lately, MMI has gathered.

Reports say for some time now, elements of the police force have been storming neighborhoods, conducting searches and arresting people without any warrant.

Those arrested, reports say, are taken to the police station where freedom is negotiated with money.

“For some weeks now police have been going from one quarter to another arresting people for no just cause”, a source told MMI.

The source whose relative was a victim of the arrest told MMI that he missed an appointment with the brother who was arrested in a police raid.

“Yesterday we had an occasion in church and my cousin who is a bike rider was to come over to our house to transport some foodstuff and people to the church. We
waited to no avail”, he said adding that he called several times but got no response.

“Later we heard that ‘cale cale’ came to their compound and picked up some people and he was amongst” the source went on adding that “Since then we have not been able to get to him. His elder sisters went there yesterday but they didn’t release him”

Regretting that Monday was a ghost town, the source said, “It is because of ghost town and the distance, all of us would have stormed that police station to be locked up as well”

Condemning such acts of the police, he wondered allowed why citizens can not feel free in their own country without being harassed by men in uniform.

“How can someone be arrested and detained when he committed no crime? Is this the protection they say they are protecting the citizens?”

Calling for government intervention, he noted that they have no where to go for safety.

“There is no place to run for safety. The government has to look in to this seriously” he went on.

At the time of this report, the bike rider who was picked by the police regained freedom after paying the sum of 15,000frs.

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