Police hunt businessman over gold

By Our Reporter

The police have started a hunt for a city businessman over allegations of making away with huge amount of gold consignment that he sneaked into the country.

It’s alleged that the businessman only identified as Edgar drove into Uganda from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in company of two vehicles.

Sources say after they entered Uganda through Mpondwe border, an alarm from an informant was raised that the precious metal had been smuggled into the country.

Police in conjunction with other security agencies led the operation and impounded one vehicle where two people were arrested with a gold consignment of 80kgs.

Security source says they cannot reveal the suspects’ names as this would jeopardize the investigations.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman, Patrick Onyango, confirmed the arrests saying that the hunt for the prime suspect, a one Edgar is on.

Onyango says that a similar incident happened less than a week ago but with less consignments and that the suspects took off with the precious metal.

Police is confident that these could be the same people behind it. 

He says the investigation is aimed at ascertaining where the gold was coming from and where it’s destined to be sold and whether the transaction is in the right channel.

Uganda has over the years evolved as a regional gold smuggling and trading hub, with dealers exploiting its proximity to Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces tonnes of gold but has been plagued by decades of conflict and mismanagement.

Rampant corruption, lax rules and weak enforcement mean smugglers face few hurdles as they ship or trade the lucrative metal through Uganda.