Boko Haram scare in Ndian: ‘Stray’ Aircrafts from Nigeria Land in Pamol

Cameroon Headlines, Lobe, Ekondo Titi, June 3 – Three stray aircrafts landed in Lobe, Ekondo Titi Sub-division, Ndian Division last May 30, raising fears of a Boko Haram attack.

The three Unique Seat Aircraft known as Ultra Light Machines, ULM, unexpectedly landed in Lobe Estate of PAMOL Plantations with some three Spanish nationals on board.

The news spread like wildfire, and sent shock waves down the spines of the populace who responding by going into hiding. They feared that the dreaded Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram, were around.

Daniel Mpako Eyong, Supervisor of the Emergence Unit of the Lobe Estate Hospital told Cameroon Headlines, that they were taken aback when they saw the three aircrafts occupying the air space of Lobe Estate. The aircrafts had landed around the Lobe Estate airstrip “for close to 15minutes before moving on to land at the Full Gospel Mission Church yard, given that the landing strip has been transformed into a maize farm.

Gabriel Ful Toh, a PAMOL security guard, said that there was much panic in the area, since they have never seen such planes. He said it was for this reason that they concluded that it was the “landing of Boko Haram in Lobe”.

Philip Tambe aka Zabra, Commander of the Ekondo -Titi Gendarmerie Post, is reported to have arrived the scene in time and apprehended the strange visitors.

The Divisional Officer (DO) for Ekondo-Titi, Edwin Nkenya Ngwana accompanied by security officials got to the scene shortly after. The DO immediately called on the population to remain calm.

Nkenya Ngwana said his investigations revealed that the three Spanish Nationals were: Benthem Martin Alonso,born on November 14,1966 in Madrid; Gimenez Carmona, born on May 22,1967 in Malaga and  Yuste Raminez, born on October 28 ,1971 in Valencia.

According to their passports, described as ‘valid’ by security officials, the trio are Tourists who took off from Malaga Spain since April 25, 2014 for a pleasure trip to Africa. They had already made several stops in many African Countries. They said their last stop was Nigeria after spending some days in Mali.

They were coming from Nigeria with the hope of landing at the Douala International Airport before taking off for Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and to continue to South Africa.

According to them, one of the planes had a technical fault and thus they were forced to land in Ekondo-Titi since their map indicated that there is a mini air port in the place but to their greatest dismay they realised that the place has been transformed into a farm.

Taking their averment with a pinch of salt, the DO immediately informed the Commander of the 2nd Military Region in Douala, General Saly Mouhamadou, who rushed to Ekondo-Titi alongside an expert from the Cameroon Air Force.

In their investigation they discovered that the Spanish Tourists did not have authorisation to use the Airspace of the area.

Though confirmed as tourists and not Boko Haram as the population thought, their three aircrafts were impounded in Lobe for further investigations.

 The Spanish Nationals were taken to their Consular Office in Douala.

Security and administrative officials have assured the population that the vigilante security forces of the frontier Sub-division are on high alert.

At press time the air-crafts where still at the Lobe Estate grandstand under tight security pending results of on-going investigations.

Meantime, Cameroon Headlines observed that life has returned to normal amidst a heavy security presence.