Col Boum talking to the rescued victims
Some 17 Patients ,14 adults and three kids have been freed by elements of the national gendamerie in Tubah, Friday 18th November 2022.
The patients who left the Mbingo Baptist hospital in Belo on their way to the Mbingo Annex in Nkwen where intercepted by gun men at mile 10 in Bambui.
The driver of the 19 sitter ambulance bus belonging to the CBC health services, Ngum David recounts that:
"We left mbingo for Bamenda around 7:30am on Friday morning. On arriving mile 10 Bambui a bike stopped in front of my car, asking me not to move , they were two of them on the bike.
"When I stopped I noticed the 3rd was in the bush with a gun , they asked all the patients to get out. Two then entered into the car and asked me to follow the third on the bike. They took me to the direction of Bafut and said they wanted to use the car for a mission." David recounted
David further recounts that the population around that road could not understand what an ambulance will be doing in the bush with suspicious looking men in the Ambulance and on the bike.
With a rise in sensitisation for civilians to collaborate with the defense and security forces to stamp out terrorism in communities, the Gendermarie Brigade in Tubah was immediately called.
The Bridgade commander, Yiala Alain Oscar narrated that the 17 patients were found on the main road while the driver and car where found 3km on the road to Bafut.
Informed of the rescue, the Legion Commander of the North West, Colonel Boum Bissoue Raymond moved to the Tubah Bridgade to salute the Gendarmes for a work well done.
Rescued Ambulance
He used the opportunity to condemn the kidnapping of patients and attack on hospitals which is against the international humanitarian law.
"I want to use this occasion to appreciate the population that are more and more collaborative and to tell them that anytime they see any person with suspicious character they should inform us on time because timely intervention will reduce risk , I want to appreciate my men for the quick action that has given us this great results." Col Boum told the Observer.
The kidnapping of patients in Bambui comes a day after a car used for humantairan services was ambushed by gun men at Alabukam in Mankon on its way back from sharing food from the World Food Program in Mbengwi.
By
Mokum Thomas
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