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Quartier NewsGunmen Besiege Limbe Banks, CFA240M Vanishes There is now a very heavy deployment of troops in Limbe, following an early morning raid on banks in the city. A group of heavily armed men of the underworld early Sunday, September 28 laid siege on some banks situated in Down Beach, Limbe for about three hours. In a shoot out during the early morning raid, a boy was shot dead while three banks, Amity, Societe Generale des Banques (SGBC) and SCB-Credit Lyonnais were intensely attacked, ransacked and robbed at varying degrees. According to eye witness accounts, the group of about 40 to 50 also attempted attacking the South West Regional Office of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) but was repelled by security officers posted to man the edifice. The group practically cordoned off the area between the entrance to Atlantic Beach Hotel and the BEAC round about, a distance of about 300 metres. The area also hosts BICEC bank, AGF Insurance, Presbook and Presprint, Eco bank, the office of the Senior Divisional Officer, AES Sonel payment office, amongst others. The early morning raid began around 1 am as residents around the area and those in far off neighborhoods were rudely awaken from sleep as gun shots and sounds from explosives and grenades rocked and rented the air till around a few minutes to three o'clock. Terrified, the population remained in-doors till about 5 am after a consignment of Cameroonian security men made up of the police; gendarmes and the army had rallied to confront the hoodlums. Night jars were also jolted out from the many entertainment spots located in the Down Beach area and scampered to their homes as the gunmen temporarily took control of this neighborhood. A young military officer confided to us that the robbers balked off and disappeared into the night when they ran out of firing power. The guy shot whose identity we could not get by press time was shot inside a bus belonging to FINI hotel. The bus was ferrying customers from the hotel's night club and got trapped around the Central Bank area where the hoodlums had pitched their nets. The bandits opened fire indiscriminately on the bus as it tried to make a u-turn. The guy was fatally wounded and eight other passengers suffered serious injuries. The tyres of the bus were all flattened. A Limbe City official who lives in the area said he peeped through one of his windows and saw two heavily armed men dressed in black mufti with faces concealed and sophisticated rifles dangling dangerously across their chests, parading the road by his home. He bit a quiet retreat to his room and started making calls to local and central administrative and security officials. The intervention of the security forces came almost two hours after the raid began and was not enough to prevent the robbing of the banks. Two truck loads of military men from Man' O War Bay and belonging to the Rapid Intervention Unit (B.I.R) was kept at bay for almost thirty minutes around the Manga Williams Bridge in Mbonjo by the marauding gangsters during an exchange of heavy gunfire. MPYRAA also learnt that the General Manager of the C.D.C, Mr. Henry Njalla Quan, who was returning with his kids from visits in Douala and Tiko got caught in the incident. A bullet hit the bonnet of his car on the driver's side leaving a hole on it. Nobody was, however, hurt. Njalla Quan lives in Mbonjo. A resident who lives close to the S.G.B.C bank told MPYRAA that he had barely returned to his abode after a late night outing when the gang accosted three engine-powered boats around the shores in Down Beach near the "Mars Snacks". He said they were all dressed in black from head to toe with perforations around their eyes and wore white ribbons around their heads. According to our informant, the three banks were attacked simultaneously with the use of explosives. Amity bank it seems was hardest hit as the robbers blew open the main door, got into the strong room and blew open the safe. All the offices were completely turned upside down. When we were leaving the place, a bailiff had been called in by the bank officials to make an assessment of the damage. Unconfirmed sources say almost FCFA 240 million cash was carted away from Amity. At the SGBC, the marauders did not get into the strong room but every other thing was torn to shreds by the force and magnitude of the explosions inside the banks. The main door of the bank was also torn apart. At the SCB-Credit Lyonnais, the main door resisted the wrath of the gangsters but they still succeeded in getting in through one of the side doors. None of the bank authorities accepted to talk to the press to give an idea of how much damage each bank incurred in terms of cash and material. Neither also could administrative officials accept talking to us. The Governor of the South West Province, Louis Eyeya Zanga, Fako S.D.O, Jules Marcellin Ndjaga, Limbe D.O, Peter Mbongo Itoe, Limbe City Government Delegate, Samuel Lifanda Ebiama, security and military top brass of the province and Division were at the scene early this morning. A surprise presence was that of Defense Minister, Remy Ze Meka . Ze Meka arrived Limbe by 8 am from Yaoundé after learning of the attack. Already there are many interpretations being given to this high level and sophisticated bank robbery and its perpetrators. While some say it is the handiwork of the Niger Delta rebels who of recent have been attacking Cameroon's military and administrative positions in the Bakassi area others are mooting that the Southern Cameroon National Council, SCNC, which has been calling for the secession of the two Anglophone provinces from the Republic of Cameroon may be at work especially coming barely three days to October 1, a day the SCNC celebrates as its Independence Day. However, many critics and observers are alarmed by the fact that it took local security forces almost two hours to get to the scene of the attack and confront the gunmen despite the heavy noise of gunfire and explosions that drowned every other noise. More alarming is the sense of a failed intervention as none of the assailants was caught. As this report was being filed, truck loads of troops were being drafted in the city raising fears that the town itself would be under siege making the free movements of persons and goods seriously constrained in the days and weeks ahead. MPYAA will keep you posted as its journalists on the ground continue to report the events as they unfold.
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