Five children kidnapped for ransom in less than a week – Police

Kampala, (UG): Police have said that five cases of suspected kidnap for ransom are currently a matter of serious investigation at different policing regions within the central region.

While addressing the media yesterday (Monday), Spokesperson SCP Fred Enanga revealed that in the first case registered at Naggalama Police Division, a three-year-old girl identified as Biyinzika Hope, a pupil at Skyluck Junior School, Namaliri village in Mukono district disappeared mysteriously as she left school without the attention of her parents.

“Facts gathered indicated the victim left school for home last Friday, September 22 at around 1 pm and was all alone since her parents were in the garden at the time,” Mr Enanga said.

Upon discovering the child was missing, Enanga says a serious search was made but yielded no results until the parents received a phone call from an anonymous individual on tel number 0774974708 demanding a ransom of Ugx 2.6m, within 24 hours.

In the second incident also categorised as kidnap for ransom, the Ssezibwa Region and Kayunga police opened an inquiry file after a two-year-old child identified as Nsubuga Shafik Ssesanga disappeared on Tuesday, September 19 at around 8 pm from his parent’s home in Nakimbi village, Kangulumira town council, in Kayunga district.

Following the child’s disappearance, several radio announcements were made in Kayunga town until a yet-to-be-identified suspected using tel contacts 0786-066269 and 0756-527205 called the mother demanding a ransom of Ugx 2m to release the victim.

“After three days, the suspect on Friday, September 22 at around 4 am called the father of the victim and directed him to Kayunga town, opposite Equity Bank, where he had dropped the clothes of the victim in a black polythene bag and threatened to kill the victim, if by 11 am if they failed to send the money,” Enanga explained said.

The third case of suspected kidnap registered at Kira Division Police in Wakiso District involved the disappearance of Olajo Henry Kanyubi, a 14-year-old P.7 pupil of Kampala City Parents School and a resident of Kasokoso Namugongo division in Kira Municipality.

Enanga states that “the victim had gone to buy charcoal for his mother, Burungi Margret, at around 7 pm and never returned. The phone he was carrying was switched off at around 7:20 pm, after beeping the mother.”

In yet another case of disappearance registered last Monday, September 18, at around 8:50 am, Kisakye Maria, a 24-year-old, resident of Kiwumu village, Buloba parish Wakiso told police that her sister Mirembe Christine,15, a senior two student at Buloba High School, in Buloba village, disappeared on the 17th September at around 7 am from Kuwumu village.

According to Kisakye’s police statement, the victim disappeared after she was told to prepare to go back to school when she complained of a headache and promised to go for medical checkup.