Kampala, Uganda: Uganda’s First Son and Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) chairman, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has sacked under-fire Michael Katungi Mpeirwe from his position as Commissioner for External Affairs and expelled him from the party’s Central Committee, following U.S. charges linking him to an alleged $58 million international arms trafficking scheme.
“I have decided to remove Michael Katungi as Commissioner of External Affairs of PLU,” Gen Muhoozi posted on X in the wee hours of Thursday. “He is also removed as a member of our Central Committee. From now on, only the Chairman will appoint the foreign committees of our movement.”
The dismissal came barely 24 hours after Muhoozi said he was awaiting an internal report on Katungi’s case before making a decision.
Katungi, alongside Bulgarian national Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo, and Tanzanian national Subiro Osmund Mwapinga, is accused by U.S. prosecutors of conspiring to supply the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), a violent Mexican drug cartel designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2025, with military-grade weapons, including machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, and anti-aircraft systems.
Prosecutors allege the group falsified arms control documents to disguise the cartel as the weapons’ end-user, successfully delivering a test shipment of 50 AK-47 rifles from Bulgaria before discussions reportedly escalated to include surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft drones.
Katungi has dismissed the accusations, saying: “Ignore with contempt deserved. Mere accusations.”
Mirchev, Asumo, and Mwapinga have been arrested in separate operations in Spain, Morocco, and Ghana. Katungi remains at large. If convicted, each faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life imprisonment.
The indictment is part of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s “Operation Take Back America,” which targets drug cartels and their global arms supply networks.
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