Woman arrested with explosives at Uganda-South Sudan border
What you need to know:
Security at the Elegu border point has been heightened.
The suspect is a causal labourer in a laundry shop in Juba, South Sudan.
AMURU.
A 42-year-old woman has been arrested by police in Amuru District after trying to sneak into Uganda with explosives, weapons and a total of 1,479 rounds of ammunition.
The suspect identified as Flavia Akech was arrested on Wednesday at about 3:30 pm at Bibia Check point in Bibia Parish about 5 kilometres from the Uganda-South Sudan border point of Elegu.
Police said Akech was found in possession of bags containing 13 Sub machine gun (SMG) magazines with 390 rounds of ammunition, 17 hand grenades, 16 fuses of grenades and two pistols with three rounds of ammunition.
The police also reported that the bag contained 596 loose SMG ammunitions, 145 PK ammunitions in chain, 348 PK loose ammunitions, and 2 pouches labelled tiger division 2 SPLA bags marked National Security.
The Aswa river region police spokesperson, Jimmy Patrick Okema confirmed the arrest saying the suspect hails from Enamu trading centre , Enamu Sub County in Apac District but resides in Kampala opposite Makerere University main gate.
He said the items were found in a Noah car registration Number UAP 771K driven by a one Vincent Otema while the suspect tried evading the check point on a Boda Boda.
He said the suspect is a causal labourer in a laundry shop in Juba, South Sudan.
Mr Okema said five suspects are being detained at Elegu police station in connection with the smuggling of the weapons.
Meanwhile, security at the Elegu border point has been heightened.
It's still unclear how the suspect could have evaded about four check points from the Elegu border point manned by UPDF, URA customs and the police ending up to Bibia about five kilometres from the highly guarded border point.
