Recovered human body parts were samples in transit, police say
A police officer collects human body samples from a road in Masaka City on November 9, 2024. Inset, a motorcycle of Lancet Laboratories Uganda which was carrying samples of the body parts is seen parked at Masaka Central Police Station on November 10,2024. PHOTO/ISSA ALIGA
What you need to know:
- On November 12, southern regional police spokesperson Twaha Kasirye said they have established that the body parts were removed from two- not three patients.
The controversy surrounding human body parts recovered last Friday night in the middle of the road in Masaka City has taken a new twist with police handing them back to medics.
News about these human body parts emerged after SGA Security Company guard Bernard Okello, riding a motorcycle, hit a hump and the medical box he was carrying fell in the middle of the road at Kijjabwemi, a Masaka City suburb.
After, an unknown vehicle rammed into the box and human flesh got scattered along the road, which attracted public attention.
Rescuers reported to police leading to the arrest of Okello and two unidentified laboratory assistants attached to Lancet laboratories Uganda’s Masaka Branch.
On November 12, southern regional police spokesperson Twaha Kasirye said they have established that the body parts were removed from two -not three- patients who are still taking medication at Kitovu and Villa Maria hospitals.
“It is confirmed that indeed the patients are there [in hospitals] and these were samples which were being taken to Kampala for further examination,” he told Monitor on phone.
He revealed they police have since handed back the body parts to Lancet Laboratories Uganda (Masaka Branch) to take the samples to their main laboratory in Kampala in accordance with the initial plan.
“We have also released the three people on police bond as we continue with the investigations into the matter,” he added.
Monitor has established that the body samples included one collected from a 33-year-old male patient that had a tumor in the stomach which is suspected to be cancerous- and another from the cervix of a 60-year-old female patient who is also suspected of having cancer of the cervix.
Efforts to get a comment from Lancet Laboratories Uganda did not yield much since the person that picked up the general line did not have sufficient information about latest developments.
"Unfortunately, I can't disclose anything because I don't have any information about the matter you're talking about," she said before hanging up.
