By Frank Kamuntu
Territorial Police in Greater Masaka on Monday arrested a Liberian National and an accomplice for allegedly staging a fake kidnap.
The arrest came after police received information from Walter Chatora, 54, the Liberian National Mission President to Uganda.
Chatora told police that Taulus Zanto, 20, of Liberian origin, working as a Missionary volunteer, in Nyendo, Masaka district, had been kidnapped by unknown people from his residence on the January 02, 2020 at around 11:00pm.
Eventually, the alleged kidnappers started demanding for ransom of USD20,000 about Shs74.2m for his release, lest he would get killed.
A task team was deployed and a search team later located the victim at a hideout in Nyendo, Masaka district, where it was established that he had plotter his kidnap in a plot to get quick money.
Police discovered that he had conspired with an accomplice identified as John Makumbi, a former workmate, who was actually pretending to be his abductor and was using his mobile phone to demand for ransom.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said that “Currently the suspects are in police custody and will be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, giving false information and demanding by money by menace.”
In the same vein, the police revealed that they are launching an awareness campaign to fight this vice of extortion, where criminals lie about being kidnapped as a way of demanding for money.
