Police arrest nine Chinese, Ugandan over suspicious dealings

Police Directorate of Crime Intelligence operatives have arrested nine Chinese nationals and a Ugandan and recovered more than 555 mobile phones and more than 270 sim cards at their residence on Luthuli Avenue, Bugolobi in Nakawa Division.

The group is being held on a holding charge since no criminal offence has yet been established. 

The detained persons did not provide proof of ownership of the recovered items.

Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said their personnel raided the residence after they were tipped off that the occupants had suspicious dealings.

“Investigations to establish who owns all the sim cards and mobile phones are ongoing. We will share details as soon as we are done with the analyses,” Mr Owoyesigyire said yesterday.

The police recovered 202 MI phones, 218 Airtel sim cards, 30 MTN sim cards, 38 Africell sim packs, 555 mobile phones and 28 USB sockets with cables.

Police say the suspects could have been using the house to con people in China of their money using online systems.

Mr Owoyesigyire said they will contact all the people whose names were registered as the simcard owners to establish how their property ended up in the occupants’ home.

“In many incidents, we find that some of the mobile phones are stolen or were registered in unsuspecting people’s names, which is a criminal offence,” he said.

Previous incident
In March last year, police raided a house in Kireka Ward, Wakiso DIstrict and arrested 37 Chinese nationals and recovered more than 2,600 mobile phones and nearly the same number of sim cards.

The suspects were accused of a range of offences including abetment of unauthorised use of computer services and carrying out a business without a trading licence. 

They pleaded guilty to all offences and were sentenced to one year in prison or court fines.