Mankon Cathedral burglary suspects still on the run

Recently, the rate of burglaries in church premises in the North West Region has been on an increase. The most recent was in the night of October 8, 2015, when men of the underworld broke into the office of the Head of the Catholic Relief Services in the premises of the Big Mankon Catholic Cathedral, Bamenda. Meanwhile, the police are on the trail of the suspects who are still on the run.

They burglars dug a big hole into the wall close to the window in order to enter the office. During the raid, they made away with two computers, two laptop computers, two monitors, a 20 kg of rice, juice, other food items, plates, spoons, amongst others. According to Djam Damian Kubuo, the Head of the Catholic Relief Services unit for Bamenda, the items stolen were worth about FCFA 1.6 million. Djam Damian said he suspected that an insider tipped off the thieves.

According to him, some enumerators were to be paid on October 9, 2015. The burglars probably thought the money was withdrawn the previous day, thus the reason for the attack, Djam Damian Kubuo suggested. Unfortunately for them, there was no money in the office. He regretted that most of the food items stolen were destined for orphans. It is worth mentioning that thieves on May 19, 2015, broke into the same office, carting away the same items.

Earlier this year, thieves equally broke into Presbyterian Church Ntamulung, Bamenda, but found no money. While thieves are opening up new grounds for their operations, churches in Bamenda are also devising strategies to ensure that they do not continue to be victims of the new phenomenon.