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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two South Sudan soldiers have been arrested with illegal firearms in Palabek refugee settlement, Lamwo district.
The suspects, both soldiers affiliated to the South Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) include Charles Abonga and Solomon Akena Terensio, both residents of Pajok town of Magwi County in the Eastern Equatorial state of South Sudan.
The UPDF 5th Infantry Division Spokesperson Lt. Hassan Kato says the duo, arrested on Sunday also had in possession, two explosive grenades, one handstick grenade, three submachine guns and an unspecified rounds of live ammunition. Kato says the suspects are currently held at Lamwo central police station.
The Lamwo Resident District Commissioner James Nabinson Kidega says preliminary investigations indicate that the suspects sneaked with the firearms hidden in sugar cane bundles and managed to convince officials at the Waligo border post in Palabek Kal that they were from their garden.
According to Kidega, a whistleblower at the refugee settlement saw the firearms while attempting to buy sugarcane from the two and tipped the authorities. Kidega says after their arrest, a cordon and search in their respective residents at the refugee settlement discovered that they were also in possession of movement orders issued by the SPLA-IO Aswa Brigade cantonment headquarters of Magwi to travel from Owiny Ki Bul in South Sudan to Uganda.
Kidega says upon completion of interrogations by a joint force of police and the UPDF army, the suspects will be arraigned in a court of law on charges of unlawful possession and illegal trafficking of firearms.
Section 26 of the Fire Arms Act prohibits any importation and exportation of firearms and ammunition and any person who contravenes any of its provisions commit an offence and is liable to imprisonment for life.
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