The teams from the Ministry of Water and Energy (MINEE), supported by defense and security forces, seized 25,000 liters of smuggled fuel in Boumnyebel on the night of March 18 to 19, 2026. The operation, carried out on the instructions of Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba, led to the dismantling of a clandestine petroleum product storage network.
The fuel was concealed in a building that served as a front for a hardware store. Packaged in drums and cubitainers, it did not comply with the standards in force. Those responsible for the site fled before the authorities arrived, and searches are underway to identify and apprehend them.
Fuel smuggling is motivated by price differences between Cameroon and neighboring countries, especially Nigeria. Nigerian fuel, which is subsidized, is illegally brought into Cameroon and sold at unregulated prices. This traffic deprives the state of significant tax and customs revenues and creates unfair competition for licensed operators. Boumnyebel, located on the Yaounde-Douala highway, is a hub for this type of fraud.
This seizure illustrates the MINEE's strategy, which relies on intelligence to target smuggling networks. Only sworn inspectors are authorized to identify offenses related to hydrocarbons. The ministry is displaying a zero-tolerance policy in the face of this phenomenon.
In the long term, the challenge is to set up a permanent brigade with advanced technical resources and to strengthen regional cooperation to reduce price differences with neighboring countries. Without this, seizures will remain one-off actions in the face of a highly adaptable smuggling system. In the meantime, the seized products will be processed in accordance with the regulations in force.
