The army court sitting in Makindye on Tuesday charged the former Director of Crime Intelligence in Police, Col Atwooki Ndahura, the former commander of the Flying Squad Unit, Herbert Muhangi and others.
The two former confidants of ex-Police chief, Gen Kale Kayihura were charged before the general court martial with aiding and abetting kidnap and repatriation of Rwandan refugees back to Rwanda against their own will.
They were also charged with failure to protect war materials contrary to section 122(1) (2) (d) of the UPDF Act 2005.
They face the same charges with Gen Kayihura.
They were charged alongside SSP Nixon Agasirwe, another Senior Police officer also former Special operations head who was arrested in October 2017. The other co-accused are SSP Richard Ndaboine, ASP Patrick Muramira, AIP Jonas Ayebaza, D/C Abel Kitagenda and Abel Muyomba.
All the accused denied the charges.
Related: Former Police Crime Intelligence Head, Ndahura Charged Before CMI Diisciplinary Unit
Prosecution alleges that between the year 2012 and 2016, by omission and commission, the group aided and abetted the actions of subordinate police officers and others on various occasions without hindrance to kidnap and illegally repatriate Rwandan exiles, refugees and Ugandan citizens to Rwanda including Lt.Joel Mutabazi – a former bodyguard of the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Jackson Karemera and Sgt. Innocent Karisa.
This is a violation of Section 19, Subsection 1 (c) and Section 242 of the Penal Code Act Cap 120.
Read More: INVESTIGATION: Rwandan Propaganda Against Uganda Diversionary from Police Aided Illegal Repatriation
The accused were remanded to Makindye military baracks until Feb 11 when they will reappear before Court.
Background
When Kayihura was formally charged before the army court in August last year, he was accused of failing to supervise and ensure accountability for arms and ammunition he assigned to the Flying Squad, Crime Intelligence Directorate, Specialized Operations Unit and Witness Protection Unit between the year 2010 and 2018.
Two of the Police Units; Flying Squad and Crime Intelligence were headed by Herbert Muhangi and Atwooki Ndahura respectively.
It is alleged that Gen Kale ordered the transfer of 4000 weapons from the Police Armoury to Masindi without a record at the Police headquarters. It is not clear what he used the guns for or where they are now.
Read More: INVESTIGATION: CMI Unravels Police Illegal Sale of Guns Live Ammunition in Guise of Scrap
In March last year, Col Ndahura was withdrawn by the military to immediately cease his services to the Police.
At the time, sources within the military that preferred anonymity told this news website that the action against Col Ndahura was due to his illegal dealings including espionage and kidnap of refugees.
“He has a criminal record of selling information to foreign agents and carrying out their operations in Uganda,” the source told this website.
The Colonel who was a right hand man of fired Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura is also accused of using his power to facilitate murders at the request of some businessmen in Kampala.
“He is always hired to eliminate people in business wrangles. He had also been approached to assassinate senior govt officials”.
The source describe the now ex-Director of Crime Intelligence as a “hitman” who also had a central involvement in the alleged torture of Kamwenge Mayor, Geoffrey Byamukama.
In December 2017, this website broke a story on a group of Rwandan refugees living in Uganda who were blocked by Police officers at the Kikagati border while traveling to Tanzania for religious fellowship.
Police officers who blocked the group told our reporter that they had orders from Col Ndahura to stop the refugees from moving into Tanzania. The orders had reportedly been issued to Ndahura by the IGP on behalf of authorities in Rwanda.
On his part, Muhangi who lost his Senior position as commander of the Police Flying Squad in June last year following a reshuffle by IGP Okoth Ochola, was arrested by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), a day before Kayihura’s arrest.
His time at the helm of the Flying Squad was characterized by several accusations against him and the uncouth dealings of the unit. He was at the receiving end of allegations of corruption, torture while operatives of the Unit, previously mandated to curb sophisticated crime were accused of conniving with criminals.
