Interpol sets up business advisory units at borders
The deputy director of Interpol, Mr Elly Womanya, (2nd right) hands over a car to Lt William Mjok, the South Sudan Transnational Crime officer at Interpol headquarters in Kampala recently. The car was stolen in Juba, South Sudan in 2016 and driven into Uganda. Photo by Andrew Bagala
What you need to know:
- Reason. The centres are meant to give traders information about where they are intending to do business.
- Car thieves drive stolen cars to neighbouring countries, especially South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo, where recovery of such cars is difficult.
Kampala. Interpol Uganda has established business advisory units at border posts to help traders travelling to neighbouring countries.
The centres will give timely information to Ugandan businesspeople about the security situation in the areas they intend to do business from.
Mr Vincent Ssekate, the spokesman of the Directorate of Interpol, said many Ugandans in cross border trade have faced problems related to crime along the way in neighbouring countries, but the only option has been to report to embassies sometimes when it is too late.
“Ugandans, who get problems related to crime in neighbouring countries, will be able to contact these Interpol officers, who will then coordinate with their counterparts to help them. The intention of this system is to help Ugandans get help in real time,” he said.
Many Ugandan traders have been victims of crime, including extortion and illegal detention, while transporting their goods in neighbouring countries. Recently, four Ugandan business people were killed and their merchandise robbed on the way between Nimule-Juba Highway.
Mr Ssekate said Interpol officers at the business advisory centre will coordinate with the counterparts in the neighbouring countries to ensure safety of Ugandans transporting merchandise up to their destination.
Mr Ssekate added that the new system also enables them to track stolen vehicles beyond Ugandan borders.
“Criminals have been fighting hard to ensure that the car crosses the border because they knew that detectives had to go through a long process of recovering it. This is going to stop. Uganda Interpol officers and their counterparts at the borders will be coordinating instantly about such crimes and recovery of stolen cars across the border will be faster,” he said.
Car thieves drive stolen cars to neighbouring countries, especially South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo, where recovery of such cars is difficult.
The last released crime and traffic safety report of 2014 show that 1,463 cars were stolen, but police investigated only 641 cases.
Unofficial police statistics of car thefts in 2015 and 2016 indicated the same trend.
Most of these stolen cars are sold in neighbouring countries.
The Interpol border posts will also monitor refugees coming into Uganda to prevent them from bringing in firearms as has been the case among South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda.
