The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Katakwi, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Grade One Magistrate Court in Katakwi has remanded a 53 year old retired soldier to Katakwi government prison for allegedly trafficking eleven children from Napak district.
Samora Bashir, a resident of Amuria district was intercepted on Tuesday with children aged 11 and 15 years, aboard taxi registration number UBB 725J during an operation.
Oscar Greg Ageca, the East Kyoga Regional Police Spokesman says the police acted on intelligence from one of the whistleblowers. Bashir appeared on Thursday before the Grade One Magistrate Paul Owino.
Ageca says that the trafficked children are between the ages of 11 and 15 years.
According to Ageca, the investigations into the matter continue but all the children have been reunited with their families. It is not yet clear where the ex UPDF soldier was taking the children.
Cases of children especially from Napak district being trafficked to different towns even beyond Uganda borders aren’t new.
In 2019, passengers aboard Gateway bus UAH 192H from Moroto handed over more than 15 children to Kireka Police Station after discovering that they had been trafficked from their homes. The trafficked children were aged between 4 to 15 years.
In the same year, several Kariomojong girls were reportedly trafficked from their homes for sale in Arapai market.
According to the police, they have joined hands with NGOs and other security agencies to weed out child trafficking especially from Karamoja.
Aggravated trafficking of persons attracts life imprisonment on conviction, according to the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009.
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