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Kigezi police arrest 22 foreigners
What you need to know:
- Kisoro Resident District Commissioner Peter Mugisha said: “The security operation aimed at restraining foreigners that sneak into the country without travel documents.”
Police in Kigezi Sub-region, in a joint operation with other security organisations, on Tuesday arrested 22 foreigners over illegal entry into Uganda.
Those arrested include 14 Rwandan nationals and eight Congolese.
Kisoro Resident District Commissioner Peter Mugisha said: “The security operation aimed at restraining foreigners that sneak into the country without travel documents.”
Kigezi region police spokesperson Elly Maate said the suspects were intercepted at Nyakijumba police checkpoint in Kyanamira Sub-county on the Kabale-Mbarara Highway.
“They were arrested from a checkpoint which we mounted after getting a tip-off that many of them had entered the country through porous borders. When our security officers intervened, they found that they had no relevant travel documents. They were travelling in three different buses,” Mr Maate said.
He said the suspects are being held at Kabale Central Police Station for questioning.
“We shall interrogate them so that they can tell us exactly where they were going. After that, they will be arraigned before courts of law to be charged accordingly,” Mr Maate added.
Some of the suspects confessed to entering the country illegally and said they were going to Masaka to work as casual labourers.
“I entered Uganda from Rwanda because I want to look for survival. We would spend two to three days at home without food, but when you are here, you get what to eat and even some money,” Mr Eugene Ndagijyimana, one of the detained foreigners, said.
The Kabale Resident District Commissioner, Mr Darius Nandinda, said: “They (foreigners) end up benefiting from the limited national resources such as healthcare. We shall continue to restrain and intercept them.”
Previous incidents
In January, the Kabale chief magistrate’s court sentenced to a caution 47 Rwandan nationals and 10 Congolese nationals after they pleaded guilty to the charges of illegal entry into Uganda before they prayed for forgiveness.
Kabale Grade One magistrate Isaac Rukundo asked the police in liaison with the immigration officers to have them deported to their respective countries.
In 2019, police in Kabale District impounded a bus that was carrying more than 70 suspected illegal entrants from the DR Congo.
In 2017, police and army arrested at least 80 suspected Rwandan and Congolese illegal immigrants during an operation on the Ugandan border with the two countries.
