Airport officials arrest S. Africans over cocaine

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima (2nd R) parades the suspects before journalists. PHOTO BY PAUL ADUDE

What you need to know:

  • In 2014, Chinese authorities executed two Ugandans convicted of trafficking narcotics.
  • Omar Ddamulira was executed on May 21, 2014 while Ham Andrew Ngobi was killed on June 24.
  • Authorities say drug traffickers use Uganda because the punishments are lenient once arrested.
  • All the 52 cases police registered in 2013, 49 traffickers pleaded guilty and they paid total fines of Shs35m before marching to freedom.

KAMPALA. Police at Entebbe International Airport have arrested two South African women after substances suspected to be cocaine were found in their possession.
Grace Golile Onyia, 55, was arrested on Wednesday after a scanner detected the substance in her luggage as she was exiting Uganda for Botswana. The contraband weighed 3.7 kilogrammes.
Three days later, airport officials were tipped off about another South African who was carrying suspected cocaine in a luggage.

Ms Sarah Banage, the Uganda Revenue Authority spokesperson, said when Abigail Finuwe arrived at the airport, they discovered 852 grammes of the substance in her luggage.
“Images captured by the machine showed something suspicious concealed in her bag,” Ms Banage said.

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Chinese authorities have executed two Ugandans convicted of trafficking narcotics, the Foreign Affairs ministry has announced.
Ministry spokesperson Fred Opolot yesterday identified the convicts as Omar Ddamulira and Ham Andrew Ngobi.

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Finuwe was heading to South Africa. Both suspects have been handed over to detectives of Criminal Investigations Department for more inquiries. According to URA officials, the suspects told investigators that they have come to Uganda to visit friends.

Police have also submitted the suspected cocaine for examination at the Government Analytical Laboratories at Wandegeya, Kampala.The URA officials said investigations are yet to be completed and that the suspects will be taken to court and charged with possession of illicit drugs.

According to UN Office on Drugs and Crime report, Uganda is considered a transit point for illicit drugs trafficked to US and Europe. Most of these drugs are trafficked through Entebbe Airport. In 2014, police destroyed narcotic drugs worth Shs109.3b that had been impounded at Entebbe Airport in three years.

The 159.68 kilogrammes of drugs included heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis. The Director of Criminal Investigations, Ms Grace Akullo, said then that the weak laws on narcotics in the country are encouraging drug traffickers to use Uganda as a transit point.