The Directorate of Crime Intelligence in coordination with Iganga Police, on the Friday tracked down and recovered a second-year student of Dental Surgery at Makerere University – Ssekajugo Augustine, who had gone missing for almost three weeks.
According to police, Sesekajugo was tracked down and arrested after 17 days from his hide out in Butama village, Nakalama parish in Iganga district, where he was hiding in a staged kidnap to cover up a sports betting scheme that went wrong.
The victim, turned suspect, disappeared from his hostel room on the May 02, 2023, leaving all his phones behind and his friends got concerned when he didn’t appear to class after a couple of days even after telling a neighbor that he was going to attend lectures.
“It was established that he staged the kidnap, after he spent his tuition fees, in sports betting scheme. He decided to disappear from his relatives, and rented a room in Butama village, where he was going to start coaching lessons” Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said in a statement.
“After an exhaustive search for him, our task teams concluded that Ssekajugo Augustine, made up the whole story, which impacted negatively those, who sacrificed their time and resources to help him.” he adds.
Police says Ssekajugato left all his phones behind to purposely cut off all communication and contact with his relatives.
Following the arrest, Ssekajugo was transferred to Wandegeya police station on the Sunday for further court action.
Police says faked kidnaps are common nowadays as culprits faked their own kidnappings for personal gains, financial gains, for extortions, intense love for a partner.
Others have faked kidnaps of their young children to extort money from their respective husbands. “We urge the public to desist from such acts of deceit, where kidnap is used as a tool of fraud” Enanga said.