Eight children abducted at Dir

The elements of the gendarmerie in the Dir district, located at the Mbéré department, have been on the heels of a gang of armed men who kidnapped some eight children in Dir.

The children were kidnapped by the gunmen on July 10 and 11, 2015.

“It is true that eight children from two Dir localities were taken hostage on July 10 and 11. However we are facing serious problems here; the lack of collaboration of the inhabitants. It was on Sunday, July 12 at 17h (5:00pm), when I was informed of the kidnappings".

Meanwhile, the first three were abducted on Friday, July 10, in the Mbah-grazing area and the other five were kidnapped on Sunday, July 11 at Bindiba," recounted Dandi Eloi Gandaf, sub-prefect of Dir, who was reached by telephone.

"The residents had initially wanted to negotiate with the kidnappers and as it did not work out, they turned to us for help. As soon as I was made aware, I informed the brigade commander who arrived at the field with his men. For now, they are continuing the search in the bushes to find these children."

"Parents have a telephone number with which they communicate with the kidnappers but they refuse to let us communicate with them. There are so many other things that make our work difficult, particularly the lack of collaboration," outraged the administrative authority.

16 million ransom demanded

According to our sources, the kidnappers are constantly in contact with the parents of the abducted children and they have allegedly demanded 2million FCfa per child. This makes a total of 16 million.

According to our information, all abducted children are the sons of Bororo herders. Sources believe that they are part of a group of the Central African refugees at the East of Cameroon.

"Everything suggests that the kidnappers took their time to study the area because they only targeted child shepherds. I feel that these parents want to outwit the authorities to pay the ransom. This is because for some time, we see them take their livestock to sell in the town of Ndokayo, Eastern Cameroon.

They are aware that if they sell here in Dir, people will know that it is to pay the ransom and the sub-prefect will eventually find out," says a resident of Bindiba, who was reached by telephone.

Investigation, opened for this purpose,have led to the arrest of five suspects by the police. For now, the sub-prefect and his men are making every effort to find the missing children who have certainly spent the Ramadan feast in difficult conditions and far from their parents.

Names of abducted children are below.

Bouba Doube, 6 years

Ayouba Tabe, 13 years

Ousmanou Djogoua, 9 years

Kalaldi Hamidou, 13

Daddi Adamou, 7 years

Youssoufa Ousmanou 10 years

A son of allahdji Idrissa Barbé at Dindiba

A son of El Hadj Mamoudou at Mbela