Prime
Busia residents in fear as captured cobra goes missing from Police Station
Mr Gerald Owachi, a reptile capture officer at the mount Elgon conservation area checks through a bag that contained the cobra that disappeared mysteriously after it was rescued from a suspected smuggler at the Uganda-Kenya border point of Busia. PHOTO/ DAVID AWORI
What you need to know:
- The bizarre development underlies some of the challenges illicit trade in wildlife and wildlife products poses along the Uganda-Kenya border.
A cobra that was rescued from a suspected wildlife smuggler in Busia District and kept at the Police Station, has gone missing, raising fear among residents that it could be roaming the town.
The reptile on Wednesday sent police officers manning Sofia Police checkpoint scampering for safety after it was discovered in one of the bags they were checking, after the owner escaped.
The bag had since been taken to Busia Police Station where it was being kept in a canine tricycle awaiting officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) for relocation.
However, on Thursday when UWA officials arrived at the Police station, they found the reptile, weighing about five kilogrammes and close to three metres long, missing.
Earlier, Jackson Bwire, who was at the checkpoint, said the policemen fled from the bag, which was brown in colour despite having guns.
An officer, who declined to be named, however, said they fled because they never expected someone to carry a venomous snake in a bag.
At the police station where it was cautiously taken, it triggered more panic, especially from Mr Moses Kakiryo, the district police commander, who said he fears snakes and instructed one of his juniors not to open the bag.
“I generally fear snakes and don’t want to look at it because I might have nightmares; please help and take that snake away,” Mr Kakiryo ordered.
Once the side pockets of the bag were searched, syrup was found which the owner is believed to have been feeding the cobra.
Security officers check the bag that contained the reptile
Mr John Achila, the Busia resident district commissioner, confirmed the interception of the snake and disappearance of its suspected smuggler to Kenya under the cover of many shacks that dot the porous border.
As security, he said, they will step up surveillance and vigilance at various border points to counter other forms of crime that are beginning to flourish.
According to Mr Achila, they are resolute in establishing the person who was in possession of the snake, its source, destination and purpose.
The bizarre development underlies some of the challenges illicit trade in wildlife and wildlife products poses along the Uganda-Kenya border.
It also comes barely a week after a senior UPDF officer was arrested by Kenyan security operatives after allegedly being found smuggling ivory worth KShs3m [about Shs100m].
