(Kampala) Uganda these past 6 months has been beset with a
spate of kidnappings where even after the ransom has been paid the victim has
been murdered. After the kidnapping and murder of Susan Magara in February the Ugandan
police set in motion a task force to rid the country of this scourge.
So imagine the surprise of the police when they followed a prime suspect in the above kidnapping into Usafi Mosque based in the capital and found themselves in a gunfight with 38 armed men after shooting 2 of them dead, and arresting the remainder, they found to their horror over 100 people from all over Eastern Africa held hostage for money. In total 18 women and 94 children were released .
In a statement to the media, Internal Affairs Minister Gen.
Jeje Odongo said:
“Following credible intelligence, one of the key suspects in the murder of Magara ran into Usafi mosque in Kisenyi having known that he was being tracked by security agencies.” Odongo said the mosque has been shut down and will be put under strict monitoring. “It is sad that this had to take place in a mosque. If the suspect we were pursuing had not gone into the mosque, we had no reason whatsoever to go into the mosque. But we were placed in an awkward situation.”
