Police arrest fake gold dealers

Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) have arrested eight foreigners in a sting operation in Munyonyo, a Kampala suburb.

Daily Monitor understands that the arrest of the foreigners followed the ongoing investigations into people dealing with fake gold and dollars.

Charles Twine, the CID spokesperson, yesterday confirmed the arrest and revealed that on February 9, a United States citizen identified as Chad Alteiri opened a case of fraud involving gold and cash worth $3.8m at CID headquarters and investigations commenced immediately.

“Investigations reveal that the case was committed with a lot of syndicates that involved some people from the West and [Ugandans],” Mr Twine said.

In Uganda, Mr Twine named a former military officer, Lt Enock Katwesigye Kyebijunga, who was arrested, detained at Special Investigations department and later produced in court.

Mr Twine added that through intelligence, the CID detectives were able to identify that there were undercover groups of people that operate from Munyonyo area.

“We generated a search warrant from court and planned for a raid where police arrested eight people from countries of Nigeria, Rwanda, Burundi and Congo,” Mr Twine said.

Mr Twine told Daily Monitor that the purpose of the search was to find any material evidence that is connected to the matter that is being investigated.

The police investigations indicate that the suspects first registered their company in the name of Kings Way Uganda Limited with the help of some Ugandans.

They later rented “a spacious house” in Munyonyo where they have been executing their deals.

The suspect secured a bank account in one of the commercial banks in town which they used in the alleged theft.

While executing their deals, they normally use former Uganda Revenue Authority workers who have been helping them in system operations. The suspects and their accomplices were calling themselves clearing agents.

Way forward

Mr Twine, the CID spokesperson, said the foreigners are currently detained at Jinja Road Police Station as investigations into the matter continue. “We are going to engage the Office of the Prime Minister to help us establish whether the suspects are refugees in Uganda or they are here illegally,” Mr Twine said.