Minister alerts police chief to fuel losses from trafficking

The Minister of Water and Energy wrote to the Delegate General for National Security about fuel losses caused by trafficking within the police, according to a correspondence whose contents were published in Cameroonian media.

The letter put the financial prejudice from the trafficking at between 21 billion and 40 billion FCFA. The minister's alert, described as at red level, concerns fuel intended for police use. The correspondence was not dated in available accounts, and no full text has been published.

The accounts did not specify how many officers or units are involved, whether the trafficking is nationwide or confined to particular commands, or over what period the losses accumulated. No arrests, suspensions or formal investigations have been announced by the police, the ministry or any other body.

The finance minister, Louis Paul Motaze, said maintaining pump prices cost the state 57 billion FCFA in September 2026 alone. He gave the figure in an interview on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Bangkok, and stressed it covered a single month.

Motaze put average monthly support at around 57 billion FCFA. The price of fuel at the pump has been held steady while the state carries the difference between the import cost and the retail price. The arrangement is reported in the national budget as a subsidy to the downstream petroleum sector.

The water and energy minister's letter to the police chief is the first indication in published accounts that part of the fuel bought with public money may not reach the units it was intended for. The police force buys fuel for vehicles used in patrols, escorts and operations.

The two figures, the loss estimate in the police and the monthly price support, come from different parts of government and different documents. Neither has been independently audited in the accounts that carry them. The 21 to 40 billion FCFA range is an estimate cited in the correspondence, not a sum established by a court or an auditor.

The Ministry of Water and Energy oversees fuel supply and the state oil refinery. The Delegate General for National Security heads the national police. Neither the ministry nor the police have issued a public statement on the trafficking since the letter was reported.

The Douala-Bafoussam road rehabilitation, financed by a 139.2 billion FCFA agreement with the Islamic Development Bank, is a separate matter and unrelated to the fuel losses.

Questions remain about whether the losses affect police operations nationwide or only certain units, and whether the shortfall has changed the number of patrols or responses. The police and the ministry have not responded to requests for comment, and the date of the minister's letter has not been made public.

Sources