The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Peter Elap, a boda boda rider in Gulu is in trouble for faking his own kidnap to con his boss
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police have slapped Elap with the charges of demanding property with menace and giving false information to a person employed in public service contrary to section 293 and 115 of the penal code act respectively.
Elap was picked up on April 10th 2018 after his boss, Caroline Alaroker, the Gulu District Female youth councilor filed a case of kidnap and loss of motorcycle registration number UED 625S at Gulu central police station.
In her statement, Alaroker told police that Elap called her on March 29th claiming that he had been kidnapped by three men at a swamp in Lukung parish in Laroo division. He reportedly claimed the kidnappers were demanding unspecified ransom to release him and the motorbike.
However, the Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson, Patrick Jimmy Okema, says police intelligence established that Elap had staked the motorcycle for Shillings 60,000 and was faking his kidnap to extort money from his boss and vanish with the motorcycle.
According to Okema, they trailed the suspect to his hideout in a suburb in Laroo division where they also recovered a motorcycle. He says the suspect admitted faking his kidnap to extort money from his boss.
Okema cautioned residents against taking advantage of the rampant kidnap cases across the country to extort money from their families or bosses, saying it is illegal. Elap is the second person to be charged this week for staging their own kidnap.
Early this year police picked up 21- year- old Mariam Uwase for staging her own kidnap with to extort Shillings 25 million from her boyfriend. Uwase used the magic voice service on her handset and called her boyfriend used different phone numbers claiming she was in the hands of brutal abductors who would kill her if he did not send Shillings 25 million.
Her boyfriend sent a deposit of Shillings700, 000 as a commitment promising to send more money later. He reported a case at Lugala Police Station, which swung into action to rescue Uwase.
After a few days of negotiation with the alleged abductors, Old Kampala Police launched a secret rescue mission only to find Uwase living large and comfortably in a mansion.
