Cameroon releases Italian spy due to pressure from embassy

A man who claimed to be an Italian journalist, Giovanni Francesco Porzio was arrested in  Maroua by Cameroon security forces and later on released due to pressure from the Italian embassy in Yaounde. Cameroon Concord has been informed that there are many high ranking Cameroon government officials who are still seeking to know Giovanni Francesco Porzio mission to the Far North region of the country. Giovanni arrived at one of the camps hosting hundreds of Nigerian refugees in Minawao last Thursday and introduced himself as a UNHCR staff and spent nearly three hours with the refugees. From Minawao, Giovanni Francesco Porzio and his companions as well as a driver he had recruited in Maroua travelled to Mabass in Mayo Tsanaga where the Cameroonian army has its most important military installations. The secret service of the Rapid Intervention Battalion started monitoring him at the city of Mokolo. He was subsequently arrested at Mokolo.

During interrogations with the Commissioner of Mokolo, Giovanni Francesco Porzio said he was an Italian journalist. However, Cameroon Ministry of External Relations revealed when contacted from Mokolo that Giovanni had no accreditation and should not be allowed to visit Cameroon’s military bases in the region. Cameroon Concord learnt that on his Italian passport Giovanni Francesco’s occupation mentioned is simply "Volunteer". A search of the Italian by Mokolo police led to the discovery of a map showing the strategic positions of the Cameroonian and Nigerian armies. The many inconsistencies in the statements from the Italian forced the Cameroon police department to ferry him to Maroua where an investigation was opened.  But pressure from the Italian embassy in Yaounde prompted the release of the so called journalist.