Inside the underworld of terror suspects

It is not clear which steps were taken by the police officers who were tipped off about the shady activities. 
A suspected bomber, Isaac Matovu, alias Muzafaru, and his alleged accomplice Yusuf Muwonge, are reported to have freely roamed Lweza B where they stayed and operated mobile money outlets.  
While terror organisations typically deal with multifaceted procedures to obscure information from external forces who pursue them, it was not the case with the Lweza cell. 

The chairman of Lweza B, Mr Mohammad Ssali, names the man behind the recruiting youth into the alleged terror cell as Sulaiman Nsubuga, who acted as an imaam at Salaam Mosque in Lweza B. 
“He openly taught extremism and he expelled women who did not cover their faces. He barred men without beards. And to effect his directives, he reportedly deployed stick-wielding musclemen to drive away kafirs. Sulaiman became a problem and we fired him,” Mr Ssali explains.  We were unable to independently verify Mr Ssali’s claim.
But Imaam Nsubuga is said to have served in the mosque between 2017 and 2018 when the substantive imaam was away for duty in Dubai,UAE.

Mr Ssali says as caretaker of the mosque, Imaam Nsubuga used the opportunity to preach that the only true faith is that in line with Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and Islamic State. 
Mr Ssali says a meeting of the mosque leaders convened and expelled Nsubuga, who took off with his children because even at his home he was at loggerheads with his then wife. 
He says Imaam Nsubuga then took the children to Usafi Mosque in Kisenyi and during a military raid on the place in May 2018, Imaam Nsubuga’s children were discovered. 

“Police had refused to surrender them [children] to their mother. Good enough, the mom had a police reference of missing children from the Kajjansi Police Station. So, I went and explained to police and the children were handed back. It is at this moment, way back in 2017 or 2018, when I told police about the behaviour of Imaam Nsubuga,” Mr Ssali says. 

But early last year, Imaam Nsubuga  is said to have resurfaced at Lweza briefly and Mr Ssali says he thought  police had released him, “if at all he was ever arrested in line with what I had reported”. 
 During this brief comeback, Imaam Nsubuga was reported to have reconnected with many of the suspects now under detention. 

The anti-terrorism squad in a wide operation netted 11 suspects from the Lweza area but some six were released. 
Among those released were  Sadik Musunguzi, Hasana Ssebunya, Faisal Nsubuga, Hero Ishaka, Abdul Shakur and his wife Sharon Nakitende.
But security agencies say still on the run are Sharif Kiyemba, Munir Hasan, Uthman Musunguzi and another only identified by one name, Munir. 

At least six people, including the imaam of Salaam Mosque in Lweza, Mohammad Ssozi, and his wife Safina Namale, Ibra Byansi and Shamim Ndagire were released.  
Faisal Nsubuga has been staying with his mother Ruth Nantongo, and on the day of the raid, he was arrested and taken together with his wife, and sister, but these were screened and also released.

Life of denial
The underworld of the suspects is characterised by life of self-denial, which acts security analysts say could also be a cover up for terror cells in Uganda.
“They live a destitute life to cover up but also mainly because during indoctrination, they are discouraged to value material things but to focus on jaa’ana (heaven),” a security analyst said.
Most of the suspects under detention have been arrested from ramshackle rented houses. The suspects   also operated Mobile Money outlets.

 Tracing Muzafaru
Muzafaru Matovu is the suspected bomber who security agencies suspect blew up himself on a Swift Safari bus at Lungala on October 26. 
He has reportedly been staying at the family home of a one Sharif, who disappeared from home and has never been heard from since the .police raided his  family  home.

In the village, both have been known  as a mobile money agents.
“Right there, a few metres from my office is where Matovu operated his business, but none of us knew his secret deals,” Mr Ssali says.  
Ssali says although security agents are  still holding Sharon and Shakur, he believes that they may not be involved in the crimes.

He says the two worked at the same building and perhaps what links them to Muzafaru are the telephone contacts as a result of the neighbour relations, or ordinary friendship.  “Security must be in touch with us, they should investigate in close consultation with us here because we know our people,” Mr Ssali says. 

Radicalisation
A highly placed security source said the teaching and driver of converts is the fight against those they perceive as infidels in order to gain access to heaven. “And whenever we have had raids in their homes, the common item that we find is jihad literature and bomb-making materials,” the source said. 

In Uganda, terrorism has manifested in two forms- assassinations and bombings. But President Museveni says the terror cells within the country will soon be   history.
But a security source, who preferred anonymity, says regardless of political talk, there is now evidence on how the terrorists have been recruited, indoctrinated, trained and deployed. 

“In Uganda, terrorism has manifested in two forms – assassinations and bombings. The bombers have the science to make bombs and need time and ability to perfect what they are doing. But the breakthrough is that we have penetrated their cells,” the source said. 

There has been a lot of criticism with some people saying that government deliberately targets Muslims. 
But a top security source says, “In the past, we had not tied  down the ADF to terrorism in Uganda. We were simply suspicious, but in all the arrests related to assassinations, it was common for Muslims to be linked. The breakthrough is after the attempted assissination of Gen Katumba, when the suspects helped us to link them with the ADF.” 

The senior security source also says, being an outfit believing in religion, they can’t recruit non-Muslims and that’s why in the case of Lweza, recruitment and indoctrination occurred within the Salaam mosque. 

 Salaam mosque 
Sunday Monitor could not get in touch with Imaam Ssozi of Salaam Mosque, but his wife, Safina Namale, said the man alleged to have recruited the suspects has ever served as an imaam at the mosque. 
“I remember some of the youth who are now arrested as having been our members here. They used to pray here,” Ms Namale said.
 
Renting and work
In the last one week, Sunday Monitor has visited five homes formerly occupied by some of the suspects. Three in Lweza in Makindye Ssabagabo Municipality, and one in each of the villages of Nakabugo and Kireka Bbira in Wakiso Mumyuka Sub-county.  

Matovu, the suspected bomber, who reportedly blew himself  up in a Swift Safari bus at Lungala on October 26, had rented an outhouse at the family home of Sharif, who is reported on the run.  
A neighbour said just like any other person, the routine of the two was to go out in the morning and come back after work in the evening. 
“But in the middle of the day, they would come back, twice or once for prayers,” one neighbour, who preferred anonymity, said. 
Ms Ruth Nantongo, the mother of one of the suspects, remained tight-lipped but she showed this reporter the house her son stayed in with his wife. 

“Everything is under investigation and I can’t say a lot. I am devastated as a parent,” Ms Nantongo said. 
At Nakabugo, where suspect Muwonge had only rented a week before he was arrested, the local council chairman, Mr Walabyeki, said he was not aware about how Muwonge ended up renting within his village. 
“We often encourage landlords and new residents to register with us but many don’t comply,” Mr Walabyeki said.

At Kireka-Bbira, the area council chairman, Mathias Ssengonzi, said he did not know about Muwonge staying at the home of his in-law and sister. 
Ssalingo Byansi, a member of Salaam Mosque, said he knew most of the suspects as members of the mosque and residents of the village.  “Matovu was a mobile money agent and I also knew Faizal, he sometimes rode a boda boda motorcycle,”  Mr Byansi said.

Who was Muzafaru Matovu?

What we know so far is that Isaac Matovu, alias Muzafaru, was a prime suspect in the bombings that have rocked Kampala recently.
He is the suspected bomber who security agencies say blew up himself on a Swift Safari bus at Lungala on October 26.
Muzafaru, a reticent and prayerful man, lived in Lweza, Kajjansi, in a single room that he rented from a family of five siblings whose parents have passed on.

The said single room was a latter addition to the main house, built at the back by Sharif, one of the brothers, to provide an extra source of income.
Muzafaru met Sharif at the mosque, and both men were prayerful and would never miss a day without prayer.
Prior to meeting at  Salaam Mosque in  Lweza, they didn’t know each other because Muzafaru is not from around Lweza.
And none of the residents that we talked to could tell where he had come from.

Most of the residents say Muzafaru was a reticent man who kept to himself. As the two men met for prayers on a daily basis, they got talking and Sharif found out that Muzafaru was looking for accommodation.
So Sharif, who had a free room at home, rented it out to Muzafaru.  
That was at the beginning of 2019.
Muzafaru then lived in the said accommodation alone, save for a short period of time when he had a live-in girlfriend for about two months, according to neighbours.
He barely ever hosted visitors, or involved himself in chitchats. 

Muzafaru’s routine
Muzafaru also reportedly ran a Mobile Money business around Mary Kevin, a congested section of Lweza.
His routine was to leave for work at 7am in the morning, and return at 7pm. And every evening, Muzafaru returned from work with groceries and cooked for himself inside the house, until the night of Sunday, October 24, when he didn’t return in for the night.
Curiously, that this is the same night that heavily-armed security personnel stormed the home looking for him.

It also happens to be the night right before the Mpigi bus bombing of October 25 that Muzafaru is alleged to have masterminded. 
The days that followed the bus bombing, soldiers returned every night looking for those who have hang out with or knew Muzafaru.

One of those people was his landlord, Sharif, who disappeared  immediately after the October 24 raid.
The family still does’t know where Sharif is. There has been zero communication from him since and his phone lines have remained inaccessible.

Counting arrests
In all, about 12 people have since been arrested around the Lweza area, with all of them, including Muzafaru,  running mobile money businesses. Several other Lweza men also running Mobile Money businesses have since gone into hiding.
All those arrested, except one, Sharif’s pregnant sister, was released two days after the arrest.
But one might gleam some clues from what one of the residents of Lweza said about Sharif.

“He runs a Mobile Money business, but he does more than that. He is the go-to man for anyone that wants to start a Mobile Money business. 
What he does is that he makes calls to someone; he had good connections with the telecom companies. He makes all the processes of registration and acquiring the Mobile Money licence easy.”

“He’s a good man, with a very good reputation around here. He grew up a nice, well-behaved boy and we have never had any issues with his manners or way of life. He is one of those very kind people; a prayerful man, respected by all.”
So could have Isaac Matovu, alias Muzafaru, be the suspected bomber who security agencies say blew up himself on a Swift Safari bus at Lungala on October 26?

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