About 38 persons including a Pastor and a young woman have been arrested by the police in Kumba, Meme Division of the South West region of Cameroon for smoking illegal substances.
The story is still on lips of many in Kumba, Meme Division of the South West region of Cameroon. A “man of God” among about 38 suspected drug consumers nabbed by the security elements.
According to Douala-based private media Equinoxe Television, the suspects were surprised in their hideout in the Fiango neighbourhood in Kumba, smoking drugs of all types by security forces during a special operation to track down drug consumers in that part of the country.
The 38 were presented to the Senior Divisional Officer for Meme, Ntou Ndong Chamberlain Wednesday September 1. While cautioning the suspects, the Meme SDO used the opportunity to warn any other youths against indulging into drug trafficking and consumption.
He equally announced efforts by medical authorities in the area to fight against the social ill. Speaking at the presentation ceremony, the District medical officer for Kumba, Dr Emmanuel Leffanda said a free medical health and de-intoxication programme is opened for drug-affected youths at all major health units within the city of Kumba and the rest of the Meme Division.
Cameroonian authorities have been at war with drug consumption in the country over the past years. The former Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakari once said that The Anglophone crisis that has caused untold sufferings to the population in the regions illustrates the unprecedented and negative effects of drugs used by young compatriots.
Meanwhile, statistics reveal that about 21 percent of the population in Cameroon have already experienced hard drugs, with over 10 percent as regular users. Among the regular drug users, 60 percent are between 20 and 25 years old, and more than 12,000 young people under 15 are involved in the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
Medical authorities in Kumba through the free health and de-intoxication programme thus seek to get concerned youths to be properly reintegrated into the society.
Ariane Foguem
