Kidnap for ransom soars – police

Kampala.

Police authorities have asked the public to watch out for their security and that of families following reported upsurge in kidnappings for ransom, sexual exploitation or for using victims to settle scores in family disputes.

Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson Emilian Kayima made the plea yesterday morning at a press conference at which he also said at least three cases of child kidnap were reported between Saturday and Tuesday.

Latest kidnap cases
among the fresh cases is that of a 6-year-old pupil of Greenhill Academy Buwaate Campus, Ms Nicole Mitala, who went missing from the school in Luweero District on Tuesday evening.
Mitala went missing when a yet-to-be identified female showed up at the school and picked her up claiming she was taking her home.

Teachers and administrators at the school were moments later shocked when the person who had earlier been tasked with picking her up arrived at the school demanding the girl be handed over to him.

A member of the family, Mr Simon Munywevu, declined to discuss the matter for fear of jeopardising investigations, but Mr Kayima said police is examining the possibility of the girl having been taken by someone close to the family.
“People who kidnap children are never complete strangers. It is either a member of the family or a friend. We are looking at that angle,” Mr Kayima said.

Two children, Ms Hajara Nankabirwa and Mr Jamil Kyakonyerwe, whose decomposing bodies were recovered from a maize garden on the Butalangu Ngoma road in June, are believed to have been murdered by a former house help, one Muhangi.
Similarly, one Andrew, a pupil at Lungujja Modern Primary School in Rubaga Division, Kampala, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by a family friend, one Henry Kyagulanyi before his body was found buried in a farm belonging to the former Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof Mondo Kagonyera.

In the case of the events surrounding Nicole Mitala’s disappearance, unofficial sources indicate that the suspected kidnapper first appeared at the school on Monday and introduced herself to the girl and the authorities as Aminah.

She is said to have told the girl and the administrators that the girl’s father had with immediate effect assigned her to take over as Nicole’s new chaperone.

Administration to blame
The police are, however, taking issue with the school administration’s failure to crosscheck that information with the girl’s family.

“We are wondering whether it was a case of connivance or negligence on the part of the school’s administration,” Mr Kayima told Daily Monitor on Phone on Wednesday.

The police had by press time questioned some teachers and administrators at the school, but Mr Kayima, declined to reveal the number and identifies of those who had been questioned.

Recovery of missing pupil
Prior to that, the Force had on Saturday recovered a 10-year-old pupil of Kasubi Inner Man Primary School, Steven Mugambe, who had been kidnapped from Kawaala by unknown people who later abandoned him around Nakasero Market area after driving him through several places in Kampala.
Mr Kayima declined to reveal the identity or origins of the child in the third case under investigation.

The three new cases come in the wake of statistics that 18 people, 10 children and eight adults, were kidnaped in the period between June 2015 and June 2016.
“We discovered five of the victims already murdered. Of these three were children and two adults. Most of the victims had been abducted for ransom,” said Mr Herbert Muhangi, the Commander of the Flying Squad Unit (FSU), at Kampala Central Police Station.

The number of cases is feared to be more given that some are never brought to the attention of the police as victims’ families sometimes prefer to secretly deal with and meet the hostage takers’ demands.

Three of those who were killed were children and included one Hassan Wasemba, a Primary Six pupil of Madibira Primary School in Mawero village in Busia.
The cases had reportedly fizzled out in April, however, no new cases had been reported since March, a situation which seemed to have drastically changed with the Saturday morning incident.

“We had contained the situation, but we are suddenly experiencing a return in the number of cases of child kidnap. All guardians need to be more alert to this danger,” Mr Kayima told Daily Monitor.

Hotspot for kidnap
The police officers revealed that adults are usually kidnapped by criminals travelling in taxis. They named the Mityana Mubende highway as a hotspot for kidnap of adults.

Mr Kayima revealed that 10 people had been held at different points to help the police with investigations. He named Nakaseke, Lungujja and Kakiri in Wakiso District and areas along the Mubende Mityana highway as kidnap hotspots.

The numbers

10
Number of people who have been arrested to help police with investigations.