Security puzzled as Kapeeka shooting suspect commits suicide in Tororo police cells

Tororo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Suspicion and speculation are rife among security intelligence forces after Muwonge Ssalongo, a suspect arrested in Kampala over last weekend’s shooting at security personnel at Kapeeka town council, Nakaseke district, was found hanging in a cell in Tororo police station.

A number of security officers in the violent and intelligence forces have raised questions how Muwonge was taken from Kampala up to Tororo and put inside a cell where he had all the time to tear his t-shirt which he allegedly used to hang himself on a ventilator.

Security agencies that have been probing attacks on soldiers and police officers swung into action on Saturday night to hunt for the killers of Pte Obed Tufeyo. Even though Pte Tufeyo’s colleague swiftly countered the offensive by killings two of the attackers, security intensified a hunt for the three suspects who had allegedly fled the scene.

The attackers who were neutralized after killing Pte Tufeyo have since been identified as Denis Ssekimpi 50, and Tarsis Mulegera, a Burundian national. Security’s gathered information indicate that Ssekimpi was a resident of Namusera in Wakiso while the residence of Mulegera is still unknown.

Police Spokesperson, Fred Enanga, had earlier confirmed that Ssekimpi is a resident of Wakiso while his colleague was a Burundian national whose particulars regarding how he entered the country and what he was doing were yet to be established.

In the process of hunting for the three suspects who had fled the Kapeeka scene, security successfully traced Muwonge up to his two hide outs in Kampala and Wakiso. After arresting him, Muwonge allegedly agreed to take the security team to his accomplices’’ homes in Mbale and Tororo.

“The information we have received is that our colleagues took Muwonge to Mbale to arrest his collaborator but they bounced,” a senior security officer said. “The suspect perhaps did not go back to Mbale after the Kapeeka incident, the probable reason they could not find him at his known residence. They afterwards decided to proceed to Tororo district to look for another.”

A senior police officer in Tororo district in his response to the interrogation demanding for answers on how Muwonge died in the cells of the police station he superintends, reportedly said he too was shocked to learn that the suspect had ended his own life.

“These people arrived here at 5:30pm and they wanted another suspect after failing to get the one in Mbale,” the senior police office in Tororo reportedly told the intelligence officers who interrogated him. “Because it was late, they decided that they would trace for Muwonge’s accomplice today (Friday). However, they did not want us to keep Muwonge in the cell that had other suspects. They feared that he could share information that could make the suspect they wanted flee this area.”

A report made by Tororo police station team said: “When these people (intelligence team) feared that Muwonge would reveal the secrets, they asked us to keep him in an empty room. The only room we had was the male juvenile cell. We all agreed to keep him there but we found him hanging dead in the morning.”

Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga did not pick calls to explain the leads security was taking in a bid to understand circumstances under which Muwonge hanged self in the cells that are more than 200kms from his area of abode, and whether the apparent suicide was to protect his accomplices or it was assisted so that interrogators wouldn’t eventually get the truth from the deceased.

While interior minister Maj Gen Kahinda Otafiire thinks those killing police officers and military personnel are just criminals, Deputy IGP Maj Gen Feoffrey Katsigazi Tumusiime believes it is a deep political conspiracy aimed and precipitating regime change.

Some of the crime intelligence and chieftaincy of military intelligence personnel who have been hunting for killers of soldiers and police officers are now also probing Muwonge’s demises with a view of establishing if there were any acts of excessive force on him or negligence that might resulted into his successful suicide.

At least 10 police officers, soldiers and private security guards have been killed by attackers targeting guns. These include Sgt Simon Peter Eyagu, IP Alex Wagaluka, Pte Obed Tufeyo, Constable Moses Ongol, and PC Ronald Busingye. The killed guards are James Amuriat, Jonathan Emuroni, Samuel Muhindo and Mutegula.

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