Man arrested for duping local cocoa farmers of 500,000 xaf

Mpounga Ngamouna Thierry is accused of selling a fake cocoa treatment product to farmers.

Mpounga Ngamouna Thierry, 28, a teacher with a private secondary school in Nkolbisson, Yaounde, was on March 17, 2016, arrested by gendarmes in Mbankomo, about 25 km from the capital city. Acting on tip-off from gendarmes in Bokito in Mbam and Inoubou Division of the Centre Region,

 Mpounga was arrested when he came to cash money sent from Bokito at a local money transfer office. 

According to 'Adjudant chef major' Lebou Jean Pierre, Commander of the Bokito Gendarmerie Post, Mpounga Ngamouna Thierry, alias 'Produit,' travelled to Bokito Subdivision on March 8, 2016. He introduced himself to local cocoa farmers as a student of the ISTAQ Agricultural School in Ombessa in Mbam and Inoubou, which is owned by Senator Pascal Anong Adibime, claiming to have been sent by him to assist them. 

He presented a five-kilogramme gallon of Florazin, a product that supposedly treats Cocoa Pod and other cocoa diseases. He collected 10,000 FCFA advance from each farmer, saying they could pay the remaining 15,000 FCFA in November 2016.

Savom Julien Sorel, Gendarme Staff Sergeant ("Maréchal de logis-chef") of Bokito Gendarmerie Post, who investigated the matter, explained that after collecting about 500,000 FCFA from unsuspecting farmers in Tchekos, Ossimbi I and Ossimbi II villages, Mpounga returned on March 10. 

He is said to have collected more money from victims, whose total number is yet to be determined. Along the line, curious victims discovered that Florazin was simply a simple mixture of coloured water. 

On the other hand, checks with Senator Adibime revealed that Mpounga was not sent by him, is not a student of his school; neither was ISTAQ the originator of Florazin. Two victims, Mougnol Gaston and Esse Jules Romuald, then filed a complaint with Bokito gendarmes.

Still yearning to make more money, Mpounga phoned Mougnol from Mbankomo to send him 15,000 FCFA, promising to bring along 36 other students from ISTAQ to "assist" the farmers. Informed, Bokito gendarmes, in collaboration with a local money transfer agency, advised him to send only 500 FCFA. 

It was when Mpounga Ngamouna Thierry turned up to collect the money in Mbankomo that he was arrested and later transferred to Bokito. He was moved to the State Counsel's at Bafia on March 24, 2016, for possible prosecution.