Police operations commander arrested for selling marijuana exhibits

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Operations Commander of Kakiri Policing Division Hannington Asiimwe is detained at Railway police in Kampala on the accusation of selling six sacks of marijuana exhibits.

Asiimwe, according to police sources, conducted an operation in areas of Masuulita, on Christmas eve, where he intercepted sacks of marijuana that were being transported to Kampala. However, he did not hand over the exhibits to the Officer in charge of Criminal Investigations.

It is said that information about the planned sale of exhibits was leaked to Division Police Commander Hassan Mugerwa on Boxing Day and he quickly cautioned Asiimwe about the same. “But on January 3, at around 07:30 pm, information was received that a motor vehicle taxi was brought to the station and it was loaded with six sacks of marijuana. The taxi was driven to Kampala,” a police source said.

Since the exhibits had been recorded on SD ref 02/24/12/2022, Mugerwa quickly visited Asiimwe’s office and indeed only found six of the 12 impounded sacks. Mugerwa immediately took action against Asiimwe’s irregular conduct and a case file was opened against him.

“We have reviewed the CCTV footage and it shows the motor vehicle taxi had a concealed number plate. It was seen entering the quarter guard at 22:18 hours and left the station at around 23:01 hours,” sources said.

Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson Patrick Onyango confirmed Asiimwe’s arrest and detention at Railway police station in Kampala. Senior police officers who are in contravention of the police operation orders are often detained by Railway police as they wait to appear before the disciplinary court.

Onyango said Asiimwe will face a disciplinary trial, which might result in dismissal from the force, adding that such conduct is shameful to the force and should be treated as an isolated incident.

“This is an isolated incident. It is not our style to steal exhibits. We always make sure that exhibits are protected. All police officers must know exhibits should never be tampered with,” Onyango said.

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