Cameroonian police have freed 13 hostages from Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo who were held captive for months by fraudsters, state broadcaster CRTV reported on Thursday.
Authorities in Yaoundé also arrested three suspects accused of deceiving the victims—four women and nine men—by offering fake job opportunities in engineering, finance, and healthcare. Instead, the traffickers forced them to call their families and plead for ransom payments.
“They gave us nothing to drink or eat. We were locked inside all the time because they didn’t want us going out,” said Virginie, a 26-year-old victim.
Lieutenant Colonel Georges Parfait Nana stated that the women were likely targeted for sexual exploitation.
The operation was triggered when one of the hostages managed to alert their relatives, who then informed the police.
Authorities also revealed that six more women from Madagascar were preparing to fly to Cameroon on March 24, unaware they were about to fall into the same trap.
While similar scams are not uncommon in Cameroon, this is the first known case involving foreign nationals.
A similar bust three months ago uncovered dozens of victims trapped in a villa in Bafoussam, northwest Cameroon.
