Ngaoundere (National Times)-Mohamadou Abbo aged 31 , a resident of Ngaoundere, Adamoua Region of Cameroon is currently under custody after faking his own kidnap as a means of getting money from relatives to pay his debts.
Abbo fell into the dragnet of security forces recently after his parents reported his supported to abduction to the competent authorities.
He had used the blood of a chicken to inscribe dreaded marks on his door post to simulate the gravity of the abduction to parents. Abbo informed his parents after staging the mafia that, his abductors had taken him to the locality of Meiganga some 100kilometers from Ngaoundere demanding a ransom of FCFA 300.000.
Police opened investigations into the matter. The door to Abbo’s room was opened and nothing found inside. When the police arrested him, Abbo confessed to have staged the incident to pay a debt of FCFA 200.000. He claimed owing one of his acquaintances the money and needed to pay.
After his arrest, Abbo told reporters that, he feels terrible to have staged such an act and demanded for pardon. However, Abbo is still in custody given the severity of his crime
The Governor of the Adamoua Gildadi Boukar Teguikie condemned the action and challenged the population to reflect on such happenings. He advised the population to guard against such examples.
Cameroon’s Adamoua Region has been a theater of abductions in exchange for ransoms for years now. In an open letter addressed to president Biya shortly after the October 7, 2018 presidential election, elites of the Region disclosed that over FCFA 2billion had been paid as ransoms to kidnappers since 2014.
Months after the letter, the elite held another meeting in Yaounde over the same issue. President Biya later discharged Territorial Administration Minister Paul Nji Atanga to the Region to evaluate the situation and step up security. A special contingent of security forces has since been stationed in the Region to bring the situation under control.
