Churches and their premises hitherto considered as sacred places even for thieves are today targets for banditry.

On August 10, 2014 during Holy Mass at the Kumbo Cathedral Church, one of the worshippers, Emmanuel Wirtum, a carpenter, lost his motorbike to thieves. He had parked his bike in the church’s premises to worship, just to be embarrassed at the end of the service when he could not see his bike. 

But Wirtum’s children who sat through the Sunday School Service recounted how they saw an unknown man dressed in black collect their father’s motorbike.  Thinking that the man was sent by their father to collect the motorbike, they cared little about informing their father. The search that was mounted after the church has yet not yielded any fruits.