By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: Operatives of the Uganda Revenue Authority have Friday busted a human trafficking ring that was smuggling people from Kenya through Uganda.
The ring was busted after URA operatives intercepted a truck with Kenyan number plates carrying a container loaded with human cargo in boxes into Uganda. URA says the truck registration number KCT 230T reached Busia border at midnight and went through the scanner at Busia customs One Stop Border Post.
“On scanning the truck, the image showed wooden boxes packed in the truck. However, the officer at the scanner proceeded to the truck with policemen and had the truck was opened. As the image revealed, two individuals were found concealed in the boxes,” URA said in a statement. The tax body has not revealed the nationalities of the individuals found in boxes but said they would be handed over to the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and to the immigration department.
The smuggling of human beings, while not new, calls for increased security risk alertness for the country. The individuals found in the truck have not said where they were heading and what they wanted. But their arrest comes just a day after the USA Embassy in Uganda issued a security alert to its USA citizens in Uganda, noting that there were rumours of planned attacks. “There are rumours of impending attacks in areas frequented by expats within East Africa, including Uganda. The Embassy has no substantiating evidence of the threat or information on the timing, but nonetheless warns citizens to take the precaution,” the embassy said. This however comes at a time when the Police Commissioner Moses Binoga, who heads the Anti-Human trafficking Unit, is blaming concerned authorities for not doing enough to solve the problem of human trafficking in Uganda.
