Witchdoctors throw snake at policemen to evade arrest

Kasese:

There was panic in Kidodo village, Railway ward in Kasese Municipality, when police officers at Kasese Central Police Station last Friday came face to face with a live Sand Boa snake thrown at them by suspects protesting arrest.

The police officers had gone to arrest the suspected witch doctors after a student reported that he had been conned of Shs800,000.

On reaching the scene, the four suspects threw the snake at the officers. Two of the suspects ran off, leaving the wailing policemen behind, pleading for mercy from the witch doctors.
“We managed to convince the remaining suspects to catch their snake with the promise of not getting arrested. After the snake was placed in a bag, we arrested the suspects and took them to the police station together with the snake.

Police have managed to recover Shs500,000 from the suspects and paid it back to the victim,” The officer in charge of criminal investigations department, Mr Richard Ssuna, said.

Mr Ssuna added the suspects have been charged with being in possession of a protected wildlife species, under the UWA Act. “We have so far dropped one charge of obtaining money by false pretence but we are taking them to court on being in possession of wild species contrary to a UWA act,” he noted.

The suspects are said to come from Busoga and Buganda. The snake was later handed to UWA, according to Kasese wildlife boss, Mr Nelson Guma.

“It is true we are taking over the case from police and we are investigating the motive behind possession of the protected specie which is poisonous, without license,” Guma said.

He said the sentence depends on the motive of possession saying that one could be fined and released or sentenced to prison on conviction as investigations are ongoing.