The Territorial Police in Kampala Metropolitan North (KMP) North are investigating circumstances under which 32 male victims aged between 14-28 years were allegedly unlawfully confined in the home of Sheikh Kamoga Yunus.
According to SCP Enanga Fred, Police Spokesperson, the victims were secretly taught Islamic Sharia Law.
“All the 32 victims were profiled as arrangements of reuniting them with their parents and guardians continue,” Enanga told journalists at Naguru police headquarters on Monday.
He said investigations into the matter commenced after one Sarah Nabbosa received a call from her son Mukiibi Barrack, a Senior Two student at St Lawrence London College, requesting her to plead with his father Twaha Mukiibi to withdraw him from the alleged Sharia Law School and take him back to school.
The mother, a 35-year-old businesswoman of Kitinda zone, Ssabagabo Makindye, traced the home of Sheikh Kamoga in Tula zone, Kawempe 1 but found when her son had been removed by the father.
The administrators refused to avail her with more information and chased her away.
“Her son had been taken away by his father Twaha Mukiibi, who picked him up on May 29, 2023, for school but instead took him for the secretive Sharia law teachings. Efforts to recover him are still ongoing,” Enanga explained.
He said the motive of the secret training restricted to male youth and adults inside an enclosed facility, locked with six padlocks is yet to be established.
“The victims were being fed on a single meal. Our officers who responded were initially blocked from entering the premises, till much later on, after consultations. We are now working with the Ministry of Education and Sports to establish whether the facility is licensed to operate as a school or not. We do reiterate that despite the negative propaganda by the Administrators, no bullets were discharged during the operation.”
Enanga said the home was located following a tip-off by the concerned parents, whose children were forcefully enrolled on the programme.
“It is also true that in the recent past, some spaces in homes and schools were being abused, and used as tools of recruitment and radicalisation into acts of extremism. It is therefore important that all religious teachings and training are done in a very open and transparent manner,” he stated.
He added: “Arrangements are now in place to record a statement from Sheikh Kamoga, his school administrators and all the parents of the victims to help establish the motive behind the secret training.”
According to Enanga, joint security forces continue to monitor all spaces in homes, and places of worship, which act as domains for the recruitment and collection of teenagers and young adults, who are radicalised and conscripted into the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) ranks.