Police in Kabale have arrested 83 Rwandan and Congolese nationals over illegal entry into Uganda.
Brian Ampeire, the Kabale district police commander, says they were forced to stage a roadblock in Kabale town on Thursday to intercept the bus after a tip-off from an informer in Kisoro about the suspicious travelers.
The suspects who include 48 women, 20 children and 15 men were intercepted yesterday at around 10 am aboard a bus registration number, UAV 118U belonging to Bismarkan Coaches on their way to Kampala city from Kisoro district.
Ampeire says the suspects were speaking only Kinyarwanda and French, adding that they didn’t have any travel documents and didn’t provide any clear reasons about their destination.
“The suspects are locked up at Kabale central police station for questioning,” he reveals.
Early this week, Uganda deported 32 Rwandan and three nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The deportees were arrested in a joint security operation involving the army and police in the areas of Russia, Muline and Karumena in Kisoro district in the wee hours of Monday morning. The operation netted more than 200 people, some of who did not have any identification document.
According to Uganda Radio Network (URN) news outlet, after a screening exercise, most of suspects were released, while 39 of them, who were found to have entered Uganda illegally were arraigned before Kisoro Grade one magistrate, Raphael Vueni, on Tuesday and were charged with illegal entry into the country.
Three Rwandan suspects and a DRC national pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded to Kisoro government prison until December 18, 2019. The remaining 35 suspects pleaded guilty and asked for a pardon.
Magistrate Vueni remanded them to prison until yesterday Wednesday. Upon their appearance, the magistrate ordered Ugandan security and immigration teams to deport them to their respective countries saying that they should have followed proper procedures, to stay in Uganda.
Shortly after the decision, the 35 were whisked to Chanika and Bunagana border posts, where their deportation documents were processed.
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