A highly mediatised law enforcement operation meant to depict the resolve of Cameroon’s law enforcement officers and offices in fighting the proliferation of drugs and their use in communities let out more than it was probably intended to.
In a video making rounds on social media ever since it surfaced on Cameroon’s social media space, a drug addict, arrested during the operation was seen and heard, not holding back anything, when he talked about his drug addiction, the business itself, who sells and to whom, as well as who consumes and who takes a share of the trade.
“I can’t say I have a reason for taking drugs, I just fell into this (drug consumption), but the thing is that they encourage us to take it”, the man who identified himself as Umaru Bakary said.
When reporters pushed further, asking who encourages them to take the drugs, Umaru said, “The military people (law enforcement officers). When they come (to drug spots), they don’t arrest us – they rather collect money (bribe). Today, we were surprised. I did not run because I thought they were coming to collect bribes as usual, but today, they instead arrested us…there are so many military people who come and take the drugs with us. It is just that today, the Gendarmes who came and consumed the drugs with us had just left, before those who arrested us came”, Umaru told the press.
However, media reports that emerged of the operation ignored the part where the addict who was presented to be interviewed, rather implicated the law enforcement officers. Reports rather focussed on how law enforcement officers had cracked down on the dealers, producers and consumers of hard drugs. In his closing statement, the interviewed drug addict urged that for the drug business to end, arrests should be targeted at the big dealers and suppliers.
Drug consumption in Cameroonian towns is a rising problem. In many neighbourhoods, thousands of young people have been reduced to nothingness because of drug consumption and the resulting addiction. In several neighbourhoods, crime is at a record high, and so is insecurity. Many who consume the drugs tend to harass locals in neighbourhoods, sometimes just to have money to purchase the addictive hard drugs. Some are said to be consuming drugs to get the courage to carry out criminal activities.
In some cases, operations like that of Bamenda, in Cameroon’s Northwest region fall short, because they are mostly meant for the camera, and in a few weeks, it is business as usual for the dealers, and countless lives continue to go to waste. It has been observed that the roots of the drug business run deep in high places, as even the obvious and open drug spots are hardly ever targeted and the actions to stop the crime are never made to last.
By Andrew Nsoseka
