The churches and their premises that in the past were considered as consecrated and sacred places or no-go areas for thieves are today targets of banditry acts.

Stealing around churches and the houses of Clergymen is now a common phenomenon.

On June 26, 2014 when the funeral rites on one Pius Mengnjo Kinga alias ‘Faay Sarbam’, a former Divisional Treasurer of Ndop, were being conducted in the Tobin Catholic Church in Kumbo, Bui Division, a certain George Kfebang lost his motor cycle to thieves. The well-locked motor cycle was parked in front of the church in a broad daylight, as the funeral service went on.

In a similar circumstance, a worshipper at the Kumbo Cathedral Church also lost his bike when Holy Mass was going on, August 10, 2014.

On the same day, Emmanuel Wirtum, a proprietor of a carpentry workshop who went to the Presbyterian Church Tobin to worship but after church service he could not find his motor cycle that was parked around the Church. According Wirtum, he locked his bike and collected the keys before going into the church.

A search mounted after the church yielded no fruits. Meanwhile, friends and family members have been filing in to sympathise with him over the loss. Two of his children who were in a Sunday school saw the unknown guy who collected their father’s motor cycle. According to them, the man was dressed in black and they thought he was sent by their father to collect the motor cycle.

In a similar incident, one Mr. Ngham of Oku lost his Salili Motor cycle to thieves on July 31, 2014 in front of the Bui High Court Kumbo. Ngham locked his motor cycle and went into the Court with his crash helmet but was stranded after the Court session. The intense search yielded no fruits.

Perhaps the churches, in order to keep their premises secure, should employ security guards to look after the vehicles and motor cycles parked around the Churches or better still look for a means to construct strong fences around the Churches to ward off the thieves.