City pastor accused of human trafficking
What you need to know:
Amid increasing reports of Ugandans being involved in drugs and human trafficking, a pastor is accused of helping people go to the US and later disappear.
KAMPALA
A prominent Pentecostal pastor in the city is under investigation over alleged involvement in a human trafficking racket.
In a report seen by Daily Monitor, a whistleblower said the pastor, whose name is being withheld for legal reasons, used a radio station associated with him to sponsor visa applications for several Ugandans and paid for their tickets to the US in April 2008.
The group of three had return air-tickets and left on April 1, 2008. Although they were supposed to return to Uganda on April 15, 2008, the whistleblower alleges that the group instead disappeared into the U.S. to seek work as illegal aliens.
Efforts to speak to the pastor were futile as he was reported to be out of the country. The US Embassy in Kampala yesterday declined to confirm whether the people named in the whistleblower report had left the United States, citing a policy of not commenting on individual visa cases.
However, embassy spokesperson Dan Travis said: “The US Mission takes all allegations of visa fraud very seriously, and investigates each to the fullest extent possible. Any non US citizen who knowingly aids another non US citizen to enter the United States illegally is ineligible for a US visa.”
If the allegations are proven, the pastor faces a ban on travelling to the US where he is believed to travel regularly.
The allegations come in the wake of increased reports of cases involving Ugandan nationals in illicit drug rackets, human trafficking and massive tax evasion rackets in the country and abroad, particularly in Asia and in the US.
Last week arrest
Last week, a team of US Marshals arrested Robert Nyakana, 40, a Ugandan-born US resident whose brother, Godfrey Nyakaana, is the LC3 chairman of Kampala Central Division.
Interpol Chief Assan Kasingye yesterday confirmed that Mr Nyakana was arrested by US law enforcement officials and flown out of the country.
“He is being held in connection with allegations of cocaine trafficking,” he said.
Sources privy to details of the case say Mr Nyakana, who has been living in Richmond, Virginia, has been on the run from US Drug Enforcement officials for over a year.
The US Marshals Service has described Mr Nyakana as “armed and dangerous.”
“Do not attempt to apprehend this individual, Call the U.S. Marshals Service 24-hour number 1-877-WANTED2 (1-877-926-8332) or the nearest DEA office with information. Rewards are available at the discretion of the U.S. Marshals Service,” the Marshals warned on DEA website.
Meanwhile, Uganda embassy officials have confirmed that more than 100 Ugandans are in prisons in various Chinese cities over drug-related offenses.
Most of them now face the death penalty.
In addition, the Jakarta Post newspaper in Indonesia reported this week that a 39-year-old Ugandan, Bhasir Gadafi Polikoko, was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, last week, for attempting to smuggle drugs into the island.
Mr Polikoko reportedly arrived in Bali from Doha, Qatar, with 66 pellet capsules of crystal methamphetamine in his stomach, weighing 1 kilogram. Airport officials discovered the drugs after examining Polikoko’s body. He faces a maximum penalty of death if convicted.
