Society

Two suspected criminals are reportedly on the run in the West Region following a violent confrontation between a gang of seven and the police. The incident took place in Baham when the police on one of their regular patrols came face-to-face with the suspected burglars trying to break into a microfinance structure.

The suspected criminals who were armed to the teeth with arm guns and machete opened fire upon perceiving the police.

The police retaliated and brought down two of robbers. Two others escaped safely while the remaining three were caught with the help of the population.

A sum of CFA 5 million was recovered from the suspect.

Three of them are currently under police custody while two are still out of reach.

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Tasha Seidou

06.May.2017

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Cyber crime is growing in leaps and bound in Cameroon. The international  organisation, "Internet without Borders" puts the country behind Nigeria and Ghana as one of the worst hit on the African continent. This unscrupulous new- generational crime is often carried out by either individuals or small groups who tend to devise new strategies in committing old crimes.
These cyber criminals who generally use fake identities resort to scamming; a phenomenon common in towns like Bamenda, Buea, Douala and Yaounde where non-existing pets like cats and dogs are sold online to short-sighted customers in Europe and America.
Cyber criminals do not only swindle people but steal their personal information, identities and hack into their accounts.Most at times, the computers they use to carry out their deceitful acts are usually controlled by someone faraway.

The Director general of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (Antic), Ebot Enaw, said last year that local banks lost at least CFA3 billion (more than $5 million) through acts of skimming. Skimming consists of criminals hacking magnetic cards with special devices inserted in automated teller machines.“After pirating the electronic bank card details of unsuspecting customers, criminals then go to ATMs and withdraw money from the bank accounts of their victims,” Ebot said.
But the danger posed by skimming pales in comparison to that of “SIM box” fraud.

A SIM box is a device that enables people abroad to place calls at local tariffs, causing huge financial losses to companies as well as the Treasury.
Last October, all four telephone operators in Cameroon – MTN, Orange, Camtel and Nextel – revealed that they had lost significant amounts of money to SIM box fraud.
The illicit activity cost local telephone companies CFA18bn and the state CFA4bn last year.
Philisiwe Sibiya, the chief executive of MTN Cameroon, said fraudsters diverted “close to 60 million minutes” of international call traffic through SIM box fraud during the period.
Cybercrime in Cameroon also manifests itself through “we defacement”, whereby criminals change the interface of a website, fake profiles on social networks, and hack into e-mails to con citizens.
Government departments have not been spared.

Ebot said at least 20 government establishments, including the National Assembly and the Cameroon Radio Television, had fallen prey to "we defacement" fraud.
“About 90 percent of the software and operating systems used in Cameroon have been hacked,” he added.

While the criminals excel in attacking the websites of prominent institutions, they constantly change their own websites and e-mails, making them hard to monitor.
“Antic was able to unveil 100 cases where cyber criminals attacked websites in an attempt to get the e-mails of some personalities while 700 cases of ‘scamming’ were uncovered,” Ebot disclosed.
Unfortunately Judges who play an important role in the criminal justice system lack adequate knowledge of ICTs and the realities of the cyber world. The country's cyber watchdog notes that this setback makes it challenges for them to deal with such cases in courts.
it is for this reason that Magistrates of the Littoral court of Appeal are acquainting themselves with knowledge of cyber crime and electronic evidences to enable better handle cyber cases.
The ANTIC Director revealed to reporters in Douala,  Thursday that participants will engage in training, networking and specialization in the two day forum supervised by the Ministry of Justice.

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Rita Akana

05.May.2017

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The Population of Malende were yesterday hit with fear as highway robbers hijacked 70sitter bus belonging to the Golden travel agency yesterday and made away with millions of FCFA.

According to eye witnesses this bus carried business people from kumba and its environs who were heading to Douala to purchase goods but were all of a sudden stopped by these arm robbers who held the passengers hostage at gunpoint and collected money with other valuables like android mobile phones and tablets. The manager of this agency in Kumba estimated that the robbers went away with about 50million franc CFA.

Reports say the journey was canceled and passengers returned to Kumba and gave statements at the Kumba police station.

“Our bus was hijacked at 3am yesterday morning on our way to Douala to buy goods for sale. Our driver was forced to drive into a nearby bush and we were asked to undressed and all valuables on us were collected. One of the passengers who sell’s at the Kumba main market struggled to attack the robbers but was brutally beaten and is receiving treatment” explains one of the robbed passengers.

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Rita Akana

05.May.2017

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The population of mile 5 Nkwen in Bamenda was shocked 2 days ago when this now born baby was found in a pit latrine.

Sources say the aunt of the girl whom they suspected threw the child heard a child crying as she went to the toilet to urinate, but could not imagine the cry was coming from her own toilet. According to the aunt 5mins later when she came back to bathe she still heard the cry. That was when she called for help. The population gathered and the men docked the toilet and removed the child still alive.

Reports say the suspected mother of the child denied ever being pregnant talk-less of giving birth to a child.

“This girl is a mother of a 3year old child who got pregnant again and was lying to people that she was not pregnant; that her stomach was big because of too much Guinness she had been consuming of late. She removed the baby and threw this morning and left for school to as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately for her the child did not die as she intended” recounts a neighbour.

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Ndi Modeste

05.May.2017

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A middle aged individual, who before his arrest claimed to be a council officer at the Yaounde city council, was yesterday discovered and apprehended by the forces of law and order.

According to victims, the fake council officer’s occupation was to loiter around the Yaounde Grand stand and harass men and women who walked pass through the short cut from avenue Kennedy. According to reports, this man who is always dressed in faded suits and carrying a handbag which permanently seems to be filled with papers claims that the route was prohibited for pedestrians and demands for ID cards after which his victims will have to pay 500 FRS before collecting their identification papers.

“This afternoon, when I was passing by, this man stopped me and told me that the short cut I used was prohibited by presidential decree and as a result he wants to see my ID card. I believed him and pleaded for him to forgive me since I did not know. He insisted that I give him my ID which I did” said the victim. “Unfortunately for him, my brother who happens to be a police officer who earlier stopped to ease himself while I continued through the short course met us negotiating. When I explained the situation to my brother, he immediately knew that the fellow was a fraudster. The fake worker after discovering that my brother was a police officer gave back my ID and wanted to run away but was stopped by my brother and taken to the police station” he adds.

Inhabitants of Yaounde have expressed worries over the many crimes of this nature happening every day in the City and are wondering why the forces of law and order of the regime sometimes play deaf.

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Rita Akana

05.May.2017

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Journalists In Cameroon have been called to shun division and unite under the trade union to collectively face the challenges of the profession.

Denis Nkwebo, President of the Cameroon Journalist trade union has echoed the call on the eve of World Press Freedom Day in Cameeoon.  "Cameroonian journalists are harassed, looked down upon, thrown in jail and dehumanized, we must come together if we want to make our environment conduisive" Nkwebo cried out in a forum in Douala. 

To the Cameroon Journalist Trade union, disunity amongst professionals has increased the cacophony and lack of professional ethics inherent in the media sphere today. A situation which exposes them to risky and difficult working conditions.

The President of the Federation of African Journalists, Abdulwaheed Odusile who was guest at the journalism forum regrets the absence of a freedom of information act in Cameroon. He laments that journalists can not be the mirror of the society if they are unable to hold power accountable to the population.

To him, Cameroonian journalists must press for reforms that will protect them from attacks and give them access to have information hitch free.
The forum which falls inline with World press freedom Day celebration also dwelled on management and financing of media houses, trade unionism, the impact of the social media and gender. 

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Rita Akana

02.May.2017

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