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Gunmen abduct NGO staff in raid
Victim. The 28-year-old Maria Nagirinya, was abducted on Wednesday at the gate of her place in Busega, a Kampala suburb. COURTESY PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Closed Circuit Television camera footage reviewed by detectives, according to one source familiar with the inquiries, showed the abductors raced from Busega to the city’s eastern Bweyogerere outskirt before slopping down toward Kinawataka.
Police were last night investigating the whereabouts of a 28-year-old Maria Nagirinya, who was abducted at the gate of her home in Busega, a Kampala city suburb.
Family and detectives said unknown gunmen forcibly took Ms Nagirinya, a project manager at Community Integrated Development Initiative (CIDI), a Kampala-based non-governmental organisation, on Wednesday night.
“It’s quite difficult. We are looking forward to seeing her again. We believe God will play His miracles and we reunite with our daughter,” her father, Francis Lubowa, also a CIDI board member, said.
Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said they were liaising with other security agencies to establish the whereabouts of Ms Nagirinya and the motive of her abductors.
No one has claimed responsibility or made demands of ransom to her family, leaving investigators, relatives and the employer in suspense. There is also no information of any prior threats to Ms Nagirinya.
Dr Fulgensio Jjuuko, the executive director of CIDI, said they were still traumatised by the incident.
The abductee, he said, had spent the previous three days with 65 other employees attending a training workshop organised by CIDI.
She was reported in the company of a male friend prior to the abduction.
Narrating the ordeal
Ms Nagirinya’s sibling, identified as Bena, informed their father that upon her opening the gate of the house in Kibumbiro-Busega in Rubaga Division, she saw her sister struggling to wrest herself free from the grip of armed men.
They overpowered Nagirinya and threw her in the back seat of her car before speeding away.
Although the abductors have sought no payoff, the family lodged a case of kidnap at Kibumbiro-Busega police post. They were referred to Nateete Police Station and later to Kibuye Police Station.
Closed Circuit Television camera footage reviewed by detectives, according to one source familiar with the inquiries, showed the abductors raced from Busega to the city’s eastern Bweyogerere outskirt before slopping down toward Kinawataka.
