Magara murder: Senior prisons officer arrested

The Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) is holding a senior officer of the Uganda Prisons Service to assist with investigations into the kidnap and murder of Susan Magara.
Magara’s body was discovered on the outskirts of Kampala on February 27, 2018. The former cashier at Bwendero Dairy Farm, which is owned by her father John Fitzgerald Magara, was kidnapped in Mengo on February 7 and her captors demanded and were reportedly paid a ransom of Shs700m but proceeded to kill her.
A combined team of CMI and police operatives was assigned to investigate the matter when Magara was still in the hands of her captors and President Museveni got directly involved, constantly updating the deceased’s father on developments. On the fateful day the body was discovered, the father said the President personally called him to deliver the bad news.
Sources close to the investigations say a number of suspects have since been arrested, and one of the latest is a top officer of the Uganda Prisons Services at the rank of Senior Superintendent of Prisons.
Saturday Monitor has withheld the identity of the officer for professional and legal reasons, who impeccable sources say was picked from the prisons headquarters in Kampala on Thursday last week.
He is a Rotarian and was in-charge of a top Prisons facility. He is currently detained at CMI headquarters in the suburb of Mbuya and has been granted access to his relatives. Susan Magara was a known an active Rotarian.
Contacted for a comment on the matter, Uganda Prisons spokesman Frank Baine said: “What I know is that the officer is on leave and I cannot comment on what happens to him when he is on leave. So, I am not going to confirm or deny that he has been detained by CMI.”
Sources close to the investigations told this newspaper the officer’s mobile telephone number was linked to those of the suspected kidnappers after CMI did a printout of the call logs.
It is not clear at this stage if the officer called the suspects or they contacted him. CMI investigators have been interrogating the officer to establish possible links between him and the kidnappers.
It was not immediately clear whether detaining him has helped the investigators to trace whoever might have called him or he called and was linked to the kidnap and murder.
On March 6, 2018 this newspaper reported CMI had arrested key suspects linked to the crime. Whereas the military declined to reveal how many suspects were arrested or even divulge their particulars, authorities confirmed the apprehending of one Ronald Asiimwe, alias Kanyankole.

Ongoing operations
Brig Abel Kandiho, the CMI chief, said then: “It is true we have arrested some suspects but I will not reveal the names. The operations are going on and we are doing well. We really have the hope of achieving something but we cannot name the suspects when we are still looking for others,” he said.
The military operatives reportedly found the suspect with four police officers seated in a car.
However, the military operatives reportedly drew their weapons and identified themselves as JATT personnel while the policemen too identified themselves.
The policemen are said to have claimed that Kanyankole was their informant, prompting the JATT operatives to arrest all of them, this newspaper reported a fortnight ago.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that there have been more arrests in last couple of days, with some of those arrested being relatives of the deceased.
One name that has been thrown about is of one Patrick Agaba who was reportedly arrested in South Africa and is billed as a “key” suspect in the murder.

Briefly

February 7. Susan Magara was kidnapped in Mengo.
February 27. Magara’s body was discovered on the outskirts of Kampala.
March 6. This newspaper reported CMI had arrested key suspects linked to the crime. Whereas the military declined to reveal how many suspects were arrested or even divulge their particulars, authorities confirmed the apprehending of one Ronald Asiimwe, alias Kanyankole.