An army colonel has been accused of extorting a whopping 16 million FCFA for the sale of a land fraudulently.

Those wishing to acquire land in Cameroon are being warned to be extra cautious after Yves Donatien Nana Kabse, an engineer living abroad, was swindled of eight figures for a 988 square meters plot in area two of Ndoghem Douala-Bassa.

The transaction took place in September last year through the interpersonal a friend and close family of the Colonel and the expenses were paid by Hortense Nguene, elder sister of the buyer.

Upon this payment, including several other expenses of more than 400,000 FCFA, the Colonel, who serves in the military engineering Pk 12 base, explains that the papers of the plot of land is being studied by the land registry of Douala. Assuring his interlocutors they will have to wait a few weeks for it to be ready.

"In his statement, he was referring to the land titled No. 40019 / W belonging to Ndoghem, which was represented by Honoré Ngombe," says Yves Donatien Nana Kabse. Until then the buyer had trusted the colonel based on his social status and Christian faith.

Dishonesty By February nothing was done and growing impatient at the fact, Mr Kabse decided to take matters into his own hands. He sent multiple reminders to the Colonel, to which he replied with the excuse of administrative services often being very slow in Cameroon.

In May, Ms Nguene decided to go in search of the field in question. To her horror, in place of the bought land stood a large barrier shielding a building which was still under construction, which she later learnt still belongs to an expatriate who had owned the plot for two years.

"I called Colonel on June 12 to express my desire to be refunded. He threw a rage and called me all the names under the sun. He told me he does not know me and does not want to deal with me,” explains Mr Kabse.

On June 16 his sister went to the military garrison in an attempt to confront the Colonel, but unfortunately she did not succeed. Since then the fraudulent seller has somewhat disappeared and the buyers of the land have heard nothing of him.

Le Messager, managed to get in touch with one of his relatives, who, under anonymity, said that Mr. Nana Kabse is jumping the gun and the colonel is not a dishonest man. "This is certainly a misunderstanding," he concludes.