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Tag: Cameroonians

  • 44 Cameroonians involved in internet fraud arrested, to be repatriated

    44 Cameroonians involved in internet fraud arrested, to be repatriated

    The Ashanti Regional Police Command has conducted an operation at Kenyasi Abrem in the Ashanti Region leading to the arrest of Bella Merie, a 29-year-old Cameroonian national, along with 43 other Cameroonians.

    The suspects, comprising 32 males and 11 females, were discovered to have been victims and participants in an elaborate internet fraud and human trafficking scheme orchestrated by Bella Merie.

    According to the police, preliminary investigations revealed that Bella Merie defrauded her victims of a total sum of “four million, five hundred thousand CFA Francs (4,500,000 CFA)” under the false pretense of securing them lucrative employment opportunities in Ghana.

    The fraudulent scheme was facilitated through a popular internet scam method known as Q-NET.

    A letter signed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Godwin Ahianyo, who heads the Public Affairs Unit in the Ashanti Region says “The individuals involved, including the suspect and victims, are aged between 22 and 38 years.”

    It further indicated that, they have been handed over to the Ghana Immigration Service at the Regional Headquarters for “the necessary immigration processes and repatriation to their home country,”

    The Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573) of Ghana, Section 21 has it that “Where the presence of a person in Ghana is unlawful, that person may be repatriated from Ghana by an order of the Director. Where a person is ordered to be removed from Ghana under this Act, that person may be arrested and detained for such period as may be necessary for making arrangements for his removal. A person may for the purpose of subsection: be detained in any police station or immigration detention area.”

    The Ghana Police Service reaffirmed its commitment to combatting fraud and safeguarding both citizens and foreign nationals within the country.

    “The Ghana Police Service reiterates its commitment to fighting fraud and protecting the safety and welfare of both citizens and foreign nationals within the country,” the statement concluded.

    Under the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573) of Ghana, Section 21 empowers the Ghana Immigration Service to remove or repatriate any foreign national who is unlawfully present in the country or whose presence is deemed inconsistent with the public good. This includes individuals involved in illegal activities such as human trafficking and fraud.

    The arrest highlights the collaborative efforts of Ghana’s security agencies to address human trafficking and fraudulent activities, ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable and victims receive justice.

  • President Biya gives $250,000 for repatriation of 630 Cameroonians expelled from Equatorial Guinea

    The presidential intervention follows forceful and sometimes brutal expulsion of Cameroonians by the Equato-Guinean authorities.

    President Paul Biya of Cameroon has authorised the release of 125 million FCFA (about US$250,000) to be used for the repatriation of an estimated 630 Cameroonians who are being forcefully expelled from Equatorial Guinea.

    The presidential intervention follows forceful and sometimes brutal expulsion of Cameroonians by the Equato-Guinean authorities which began on Oct 20.

    The government of Equatorial Guinea says most of those being expelled are living illegally in the country.

    But some of the Cameroonians who have since succeeded in arriving home say they had their residential papers but were brutally extracted from their homes and forced to leave the country because of growing xenophobia against Cameroonians in Equatorial Guinea.

    “I and my entire family were pulled out of my house and forced into a vehicle by police who abandoned us in a football field. By the time I rushed back to my house, I discovered that all my valuable belongings had been carried away by irate Equato-Guinean crowds changing anti-Cameroon slogans”, Fotso Alphonse who said he had just returned from Equatorial Guinea told HumAngle yesterday Sunday Oct 30 in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital.

     

    A communiqué signed Saturday October 29, 2022 by the Cameroonian ambassador in Equatorial Guinea, Desire Owona Menguele, reveals that the 125 million FCFA would be used in the repatriation of a total of 630 persons drawn from among Cameroonians who have been recently expelled as well as from among some of those who were declared illegal immigrants during a massive expulsion exercise by the Equato-Guinean authorities in November last year.

    The mass repatriation exercise is scheduled to begin today, Monday October 31, 2022 with the first 52 Cameroonians, including forty-eight adults and four infants to be transported by Ethiopian Airlines from Malabo. The flight would leave Malabo the Equatorial Guinea capital at 12:30 hours and arrive Douala at 13:25 hours.

    Cameroonian consular authorities in Equatorial Guinea say they would assist Cameroonians who wish to remain in the country by facilitating their acquisition of the relevant residential documents.

    “For those wishing to remain on Equatorial Guinea territory, the embassy had on Oct 21, forwarded 250 dossiers to the Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation which demanded for the dossiers with a view to regularising their situation”, the Cameroonian ambassador to Equatorial Guinea revealed.

    “The mission has solicited for a three-month period of grace from the Equatorial Guinea authorities counting from the date of the delivery of the new biometric Cameroonian passports established by the consular posts of Bata and Malabo to enable their holders to regularise their situation”, Ambassador Desire Owona Menguele said.

    The ambassador also revealed that thirty-one Cameroonians remain captives in the Malabo multipurpose sports complex, among whom are twenty-six men and five women.

    It should be recalled that Equatorial Guinea and Gabon are the two of the six member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States, popularly known by the French acronym CEMAC, that have been flouting the CEMAC provision for free movement of goods and persons from member countries within the economic zone, by frequently expelling citizens from other member countries on flimsy excuses bordering on xenophobia.

    Source: Cameroon.com.org