Congolese arrested in Uganda with Shs300m fake gold
What you need to know:
- Police say cases of bogus gold deals are common in Uganda
KAMPALA. Police in Kampala are holding a Congolese national who was allegedly found with 4kg of fake gold valued at $100,000 (about Shs357 million).
Pierr Zanganazanga is detained at Old Kampala Police Station following his arrest at Nakulabye, Rubaga Division on Thursday.
He was picked by detectives after two men from Arua District accused him of conning them Shs4 million in a bogus gold deal.
In his statement at police, Mr Rushid Khelil Azabo said Zanganazanga called him disguising as a United Nations (UN) worker based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who had picked gold abandoned by militias during a crossfire exchange.
“He called using a DRC telephone line and convinced me that he was my primary school friend now working with UN. I was hesitant at first but I trusted him when he mentioned my name and village,” Mr Azabo said.
Mr Azabo was convinced by the fact that Zanganazanga had mentioned his name. The two agreed to meet in Nakalubye, a Kampala suburb. Mr Azabo was accompanied by his brother Mr Dalil Changa in a meeting with Zanganazanga at one of the restaurants in Nakulabye, where he showed them gold samples.
“He told us to give him $25,000 per kilogramme. He said he would help us get someone to buy from us at about $35,000 per kilogramme. We were excited about the deal and we started looking for the money,” Azabo added.
Mr Changa said the suspect further introduced them to a white man who said he was in need of 10kg of gold at $35,000 each. The two brothers made calls to friends hoping to raise Shs362 million for Mr Zanganazanga so that they could make profits worth Shs36m on each kilogram.
“He [Mr Zanganazanga] put us on pressure to raise $100000 in a few days and threatened to sell it to another person if we delayed. We asked him to refund our Shs4m because we had failed to raise Shs362m but he vanished,” Mr Azabo said.
Old Kampala Division Police Commander (DPC), Grace Nyangoma, said the suspect would be charged with among other charges obtaining money by false pretence and illegal entry since he had no travel documents. By press time, police was hunting for his accomplices.
