Armed men abduct 8 family members

A 70-year-old man, a three-year-old child, and a six-year-old on medication are among the eight family members that the police are holding for unknown reasons. Police yesterday confirmed holding the family members of Charles Ssebitene, 70, whom they picked from their home at Badana-Masanafu in Rubaga Division at around 2pm on Tuesday at an undisclosed location.

The chairperson of Masanafu Kinonya Zone in Lubya Parish, Rubaga Division in Kampala City, Mr Sepiriya Kabuuka, said a numberless van, commonly known as Drone, parked at Mr Ssebitene’s residence and then armed men surrounded the home.

 “They picked the old man and seven others before driving away. They didn’t inform anyone including the area police or local council and neighbours. Some of the people they went with are a six-year-old child, who is on medication. They left the child’s drugs at home,” Mr Kabuuka said.

“They also went with a three-year-old child and two other children who had paid a visit to the home,” he added. Mr Kabuuka said all their attempts to establish who took their neighbours have been futile.

“How can they just come with guns without any uniform and arrest people? How can we know whether they are criminals or genuine officers?” he added.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said they have no offence against any of the family members. “It is true they are with us, but they were not kidnapped or abducted and they are not under arrest. They are just helping us with investigations. The children were brought with the adults because we didn’t want to leave them without anyone caring for them,” Mr Onyango said yesterday.

The police didn’t disclose the details of why they are holding them. However, neighbours and tenants of Mr Ssebitene said he has been involved in family wrangles over property. The wrangles had escalated so much that the tenants haven’t paid rent to any of the two warring family members since December last year, a source said. Police sources said the family members are being held by the officers attached to the Directorate of Crime Intelligence. By press time yesterday, none of the family members had been released.

Operation

A tenant in Mr Ssebitene’s building said a tinted saloon car was the first to arrive in the neighbourhood at around 1pm. The occupants remained inside the vehicle for a very long period of time.

Then a motorcycle with two occupants came and parked. “They were suspicious of the two vehicles, but they didn’t report to the authorities for fear that the occupants may be innocent people,’’ the tenant said, adding that a numberless car [drone] later arrived at the residence. “The armed men jumped out of the motorcycle and walked straight to the residence. We didn’t ask them anything since everyone was trying to run away,” he added. After the armed men had left, the tenants went and informed the LC chairman about the incident. Mr Kabuka said he reported the matter to the nearby police post. “I reported the matter to all police officers in charge of our area police post, I even called the division police commander of Old Kampala Police Station, but they were not aware of the operation.”

Similar incidents

Similar arrests have been carried out in Kampala suburbs, especially after the November 2020 protests. Dozens of those arrested have never been seen again. According to guidelines issued by the Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola in 2017, the police officers arresting or taking any person from one place to another must identify themselves to those being targeted. IGP Ochola said the police must also inform the next of kin of the affected person (s) where they are being taken.