Eight Cameroon Athletes Bail From The Commonwealth Games Village

Police are ‘monitoring the issue’


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International athletes are urged to follow their visa guidelines amid reports that five athletes from Cameroon have disappeared from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Village.

Team Cameroon chef de mission Victor Agbor Nso confirmed the athletes from the Central African country have gone missing after failing to compete during scheduled events this week, the ABC reports.

"The Cameroon Commonwealth team is sad to announce that eight of the 24 athletes they took to the 21st Commonwealth Games in [the] Gold Coast ... are missing from their respective rooms in the Games village," he said in a statement.

"These athletes left in three waves — first in the night of April 8 three athletes departed from the village.

"Then on [April 9] two others were declared missing and last night three others left their rooms.

"These athletes, three weightlifters and five boxers, were part of the team that had a training camp in Warwick before getting to [the] Gold Coast."

Queensland Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones confirmed to the ABC the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were “monitoring the issue”, although no formal missing person report has been made.

"They are keeping a watching brief on these athletes,” she said.

"When an athlete comes to Australia to compete in a competition we expect them to front up on the field and compete, so we are disappointed about that."

The move follows a stern warning back in January from Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, made in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games.

He said: "Our message to the 0.5 per cent of people who might think they can overstay a visa, or not act within the conditions of that visa, is that Australia has very tough laws and they need to abide by the laws.”

Troy Nankervis

11 April 2018

Article by:

Troy Nankervis




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