Cameroon: How Police Rescued Lebanese Businessman kidnapped by Scammers in Buea

* Arrested Kidnappers detained in Yaoundé.    
 *Woman Housing Scammers Now At Large

By Christopher Ambe Shu

The Judicial Police in Buea led by the Southwest Regional Chief, Commissioner Adjoffoin Peter Diangha, at about 2:00 am on Tuesday, last December 29 swooped on and arrested alleged internet scammers who had reportedly kidnapped and tied up a Lebanese businessman, Roland Yosef, in a residence in Bokwango, asking for a ransom of 50 million FCFA.

The alleged Kidnappers, in their 20’s, had reportedly threatened to harm their victim if he failed to cough out the tens of millions of FCFA they were requesting as ransom from his family. Ransom is payment demanded for the return of a captured person.

The freed Lebanese, alongside the four purported kidnappers were, on the instruction of hierarchy in the nation’s capital, whisked off same day to Yaoude in a police vehicle for further interrogation .The supposed kidnappers reportedly extorted 2000 US Dollars from the Lebanese, who had flown into Cameroon on December 26, convinced that he was coming to meet business men for an oil deal.

The accused scammers had advertised themselves on a website as oil dealers, owning an oil company in Cameroon, our security sources told us.

That is how the Lebanesbusinessman, unsuspecting, got interested and established links with them.

Communication between them became regular until Roland Yosef arrived in Cameroon hoping to seal a huge oil deal.

When the Lebanese business man landed at the Douala International Airport last December 26, he was picked-up by his alleged business partners who took him to their “Bokwango Hideout” instead of a hotel.

In their Bokwango residence, the scammer-kidnappers were not talking as genuine businessmen, and realizing that the Lebanese was somehow disappointed, they resorted to threats, our sources said.
The Lebanese was then tied- up and locked up in one of the rooms of the residence.

It is not clear whether the captors would have killed him if the deadline reached and his family had not responded by making the huge payment requested. But what is certain is that the government of Cameroon was worried, and took all measures to rescue the Lebanese, so to maintain warm relations between Cameroon and Lebanon.The suspect conmen bullied the Lebanese to telephone his family back in Lebanon and ask them to wire to Cameroon 50 million FCFA as ransom for his release.

The Recorder gathered that when the alleged kidnappers forced the Lebanese to telephone his family to send the ransom, he played a smart one on them. Roland Yosef, in his conversation with his family back in Lebanon, spoke but Arabic explaining his plight in Cameroon. That is how his family alerted the Government of Cameroon and the judicial police were instructed to act fast

But his captors not understanding Arabic thought all was going well; and that they would soon pocket millions of Fcfa.

The alleged kidnappers now in detention in Yaounde are: Teboh Festus (29), said to be the gang leader; Tembong Walters, Mbah Alex and Godlove Fofuh.

Although the rescue mission was led Commissioner Adjoffoin Peter Diangha, The Recorder learned five other policemen had rushed in from Yaounde to beef up the squad, making the rescue mission a ten-policeman squad.
As the squad stormed the residence where the Lebanese was held hostage, neighours could not sleep as heavy gun shots could be heard.

It turned out that it was the police firing in the air to scare the supposed Kidnappers to submission, contrary to neighbors’ fears that thieves had attacked the residence.

Police brought down two of the suspects who had managed to climb into the ceiling to hide; then untied the Lebanese ,searched the house, and carried away a computer linked to the net, which was believed to be used for the scamming business.

It was thanks to the ingenuity of the Buea Judicial Police chief that the phone booth in Bokwango which transferred credits to the telephone set used by the Lebanese to communicate with his family that the so-called –kidnappers’ hide-out was discovered.

The Bokwango residence where the Lebanese was held and where the “kidnappers” were lodging is being hired by a certain young woman, Ndikum Delphine, who is now at large. Police said the lady house occupant could be an accomplice.

Delphine’s landlord ,a Buea-based businessman, said when the lady came to hire his house last October she claimed that she was a student of a nursing school in Buea.

The landlord disclosed that she had paid rents for up to nine months and never looked suspicious at any moment.
Ndikum Delphine,said to be a mother of one, had reportedly left her residence much earlier on December 29, after witnessing how the scammers were threatening to harm the Lebanese if he did not comply with their selfish demands.

A security source told The Recorder that Ndikum Delphine had left the house to Bamenda to receive the ransom.  The Lebanese gave them the impression that his family had sent part of the ransom.

The alleged kidnappers, our sources said, had preferred that their ransom be paid but via a bank in Bamenda and elsewhere in someone elsewhere’s name.
By press time, Delphine had not regained her house, and police sources said her whereabouts were not yet known.