The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Pader, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A joint security team comprising the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and Joint Anti-Terrorist Task Force (JATT) have arrested a man suspected to be a terrorist in Pader town council in Pader district.
The suspect was arrested on Thursday from Atimikica Guest House in Pader town council where he had booked along with another colleague who is on the run.
The suspects reportedly booked in the guest house on Thursday morning according to one of the employees of the Guest House who preferred anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
They were arrested during an operation in which security personnel were monitoring hotels and lodges within Pader town council ahead of the burial of former Deputy Inspector General of Police Maj Gen Paul Lokech on Friday at his ancestral home in Paipir village in Luna Parish.
The body of Gen. Lokech arrived yesterday from Kampala aboard a military helicopter that landed at Archbishop Flynn Secondary school playgrounds.
A highly placed security personnel told Uganda Radio Network in an interview on condition of anonymity that when the suspect was told to show the security personnel his room, he attempted to run away but was captured.
The source says when he opened his room, they found electric wires, pliers, half a basinful of bicycle ball bearings, a detonator, a bulb, unknown powdery substance and liquid in a bottle, digital watch, and jackets with porches that had been filled with ball bearings.
According to the source, upon interrogation, the suspect told them he had come with another colleague who has since disappeared.
A security officer who preferred anonymity says that the suspects were planning to detonate the explosives during the burial of Gen. Lokech on Friday.
Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson David Ongom Mudong confirmed the arrest of the suspect.
Ongom says intelligence reports indicate that the suspect who is not a resident in the district is involved in some criminal activities.
He notes that the police are interrogating the suspect who is being detained at Pader Central Police station adding that a hunt is underway for his accomplices.
Ongom added that security has since been heightened at the burial ground and the district.
By press time, the guest house had been sealed off as a crime scene while a team of plain cloth security operatives and Police Bomb Squad maintained a heavy deployment.
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