FOUR journalists detained and threatened by Cameroonian judicial police last week walked free after five hours in custody – but without their phones, cameras, or laptops. Days later, their equipment was returned but fear on what was being done with those devices when they were in the hands of the police is generating serious alarm across newsrooms and press freedom organisations.
The journalists – AP reporters Nalova Akua, Angel Ngwe, and Arnold Ndal, along with freelance reporter Randy Joe Sa’ah – were seized on February 17 in Yaoundé after reporting on covert U.S. deportation flights that had brought African migrants to Cameroon. They were interrogated separately, held for five hours, and subjected to threats. Ngwe was warned she would “disappear without a trace.” Both she and Sa’ah were told they would be “crushed.”
Their release brought little relief. The confiscated devices – cellphones and at least one laptop – have been returned, and journalists, editors, and press freedom advocates are now raising urgent questions about what Cameroonian judicial police did to them.
The concerns are grave and wide-ranging. Foremost among them is the potential exposure of confidential sources. The reporters had been interviewing deportees from multiple African countries – migrants expelled under the Trump administration in secret flights – some of whom may have spoken on the condition of anonymity. Their identities, along with contact lists, message threads, notes, and unpublished reporting, could all be accessible to police if the devices are unlocked.
Joseph Awah Fru, the lawyer representing both the deportees and, subsequently, the AP journalists, did not mince words. “They have not been charged yet, but their gear is still with police whose modus operandi is to pry into their equipment and start fabricating charges,” he told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “Most especially, I am afraid their anonymous sources can be compromised.”
Beyond data extraction, there is growing concern that police could install spyware on the devices before returning them – turning the journalists’ own equipment into surveillance tools. Such tactics have been documented in other restrictive press environments and would allow authorities to monitor ongoing communications, future sources, and unreported stories long after the hardware is handed back.
The threat is compounded by Cameroon’s track record. The country ranks among the most repressive in Africa for press freedom, with journalists routinely facing arrest, assault, and intimidation. It is a climate in which the threat to “disappear” a reporter is not easily dismissed as bluster.
The CPJ is demanding the immediate return of all equipment and warning authorities against tampering with the devices, accessing confidential source information, or using any private data to build retaliatory cases against the journalists. “Cameroonian authorities must stop harassing journalists for doing their jobs and respect the public’s right to be informed,” said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal.
The journalists had been on assignment covering a story of significant international interest – the Trump administration’s secretive deportation of African migrants, including a flight in January and another the day before the arrests. That reporting now sits in limbo, its future contingent on whether the journalists can work safely and whether their sources remain protected.
Cameroon’s minister of communication, René Emmanuel Sadi, declined to comment, saying he lacked details about the incident. Police spokesperson Joyce Ndjem did not respond to CPJ’s requests, and the AP’s press office had not replied to inquiries at the time of publication.
