A 42-year old man – Samuel Mbonjo, is currently in detention at the 2nd District Police Station in Yaounde for usurpation of tittles in a 419 scam he was about perpetrating before his arrest by the police.
The married father of five as if without remorse is demanding that he be transferred to the judicial police where he believes he would get a fair examination.
Marcel Ndi Ondoa, Chief Superintendent of the 2nd District Police Station who was immediate witness to the scam, told Cameroon Journal yesterday, May 19, that the whole thing started with a phone call last week.
“Mbonjo (who placed the call), claimed to be Inspector General of the General Delegation for National Security; calling from the police headquarters. In the first call, he simply told me he was calling with his new phone number and that I should send the number to the boss of the 6th District Police Station. I ignorantly did,” confessed the Superintendent.
Ondoa, boss of the 2nd District police station also said Mbonjo called him a few minutes later and ordered him to release a boy who was being detained for a simple offence – the boy had reportedly stole goods which a certain lady paid him to transport with his wheelbarrow from the Mokolo Market to the roadside where she had to load them onto a car.
“I immediately called the commissioner of the 6th district and told him not to take orders from anybody who calls him claiming to be the Inspector General of the General Delegation for National Security. Then I tried calling the Inspector General through his real number, but he won’t pick up the phone. But each time I tried the ‘new’ number, he would pick. I concluded that someone was trying to pull a fast one on me”, Ondoa said.
The police officer said he was also beginning to wonder why the Inspector General should intervene in such a minor case. But he made up his mind to play along only to discover later that the caller – Mbonjo, was not far from the station. He told the caller that he would release the boy at about 4pm on Ascension Thursday.
At exactly 4pm, a relative of the boy showed up to take him home. He was arrested and grilled. It was then he revealed that he was contacted by a senior superintendent of police – the 419ner, who told him about the arrest.
He said he had also received phone calls from a well-known State Counsel, Ndongo and another magistrate who asked him to prepare a sum of money as ‘settlement’ for the release of the boy. He went about and auctioned his wife’s business merchandise to raise the money needed.
According to Ondoa, the said magistrate, state counsel, senior police officer and inspector general were all Mbonjo’s impersonations. The boy was released and when they took him to meet the so-called magistrate to pay the ‘settlement’ money, the police jumped in and grabbed him. He was later indentified as Samuel Mbonjo and has before served eight months in jail for a similar crime.
Mbonjo, speaking to the Cameroon Journal after his incarceration, admitted that he was the one making the calls. “I made the calls, but the persons whose titles I usurped have not complained. What gives Ondoa the right to detain me? This commissioner is a victim and I am the accused, so he cannot judge me. Let him take me to the judicial police and complain there. That is my proposal.” Mbonjo said.
Ondoa insisted that Mbonjo must be taken to court. “Usurpation of tittles is a crime and since he has admitted he committed the crime, I have the right to detain him. I am showing him to you so that people will be aware and not fall into such scams,” he said.
