By Spy Uganda
Nile Treasure Gate-Labour Export Company bosses have been thrown back into jail for selling Ugandan’s kidney to ruthless Arabs-TheSpy Uganda reports.
Appearing before Nakawa Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Akullo Ogwal on Friday, two directors of the labour export company including Abubaker Sulaiman Kato, 33, Mariam Muhammad, 31; Salma Muhammad, 43 a board member , Ali Hassan Male,18 an agent and Jeniffer Milly Nalunga,32, a supervisor were charged with aggravated trafficking in persons contrary to section 3(1)(a) and 4(i) of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009.
According to court documents, the group and others still at large between December 2019 and October 2021 between Kampala district of Uganda and Saudi Arabia organized, facilitated, made preparation for sending to receiving or confining Judith Nakintu by means of fraud or deceit or abuse of power of position of vulnerability for purposes of removal of a body part or organ.
The group was is also accused of recruiting, facilitating and transporting Nakintu to Saudi Arabia for purposes of exploitation that saw the Ugandan girl suffer mutilation and a life-threatening illness.
The two directors of the company, a board member, agent and a supervisor were also charged with working in a syndicate to facilitate and transfer Judith Nakintu by means of fraud, deceit and abuse of positions of vulnerability for purposes of the girl’s exploitation.
The group denied the charges but the state prosecutors including Doreen Erima and Joseph Kyomuhendo told court that investigations into the matter are still ongoing and it’s from this point that Magistrate Elizabeth Akullo decided to remand the group to Kitalya Government prison until March, 14, 2022.
Sad Story Of How ‘Nile Treasure Gate Traffickers’ Sold Nakintu’s Kidney!
Judith Nakintu, 38, a single mother of five, found herself in an economic dilemma.
She always looked for means of looking after her children after separating from her husband.
She worked as a food vendor in a busy evening market in Mubende town but, in 2019, she was recruited by Nile Treasure Gate Company, based in Kiwatule, a city suburb, as a housemaid to work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
She flew to Jeddah on December 12, 2019.
However, after two months on the job, according to the first information the family obtained, she was involved in an accident, although no details were given.
Her younger brother, Robert Kadichi, said, at first, she was communicating with her family until she went silent.
They later received information about her condition on March 17, 2020, that she was in critical condition. They tried to seek further details from her boss.
According to Kadichi, the employer informed them about the accident and they asked him to send them photographs of her, but he blocked them.
They used different phone contacts to call him, but he declined to speak to anyone.
They later approached Sulaiman Abubakar Kato, the director of Nile Treasure Gate Company, to help them access their sister. He said the director was at first co-operative, but he also later cut off contact.
For some time there was no information about Nakintu’s condition, until October 30, last year, when they received a call from the company that Nakintu would land at Entebbe International Airport.
They also got information that during the 18 months of her ill health, her boss had rented a warehouse where he kept her and was being looked after by another Ugandan woman, only identified as Janifer.
Mysterious Surgery
The family was, however, not allowed to meet Nakintu and she was taken to Mulago National Referral Hospital for medical check-up.
It was at Mulago that they learnt that she underwent a ‘mysterious surgery’ while in Jeddah and that her right kidney was missing.
According to Kadichi, it was a trying moment when the family met Nakintu at the facility.
Her left side was paralysed and she could not speak well, although she recognised them.
The family members were, however, shocked when the first CT scan results indicated that she was in normal state, yet she had unexplained surgery scars on her abdomen.
They took her to her grandmother, Angella Perus Nakangu of Kirombe Luzira in Kampala, but two family doctors intervened and took her back to Mulago Hospital, where another CT scan was conducted.
According to findings done at the Casualty CT scan unit, signed by radiologist Dr Sharif Kikomeko and dated November 1, 2021, Nakintu’s right renal bed is empty.
The doctor concluded that the “features are of an absent right kidney.”
Human Organ Black Market
There is a concern about an existing and increasing black market for human organs and organ trafficking, including human kidneys.
The trade is said to involve syndicated cartels that extract human organs from patients for sale to local collaborators who, in turn, find market abroad, including the Middle East.
Other victims are Ugandans desperate for employment who, are reportedly trafficked abroad, promising them good jobs only to admit them to healthcare facilities where their organs are removed.
Some victims are compensated with little money, forced on the planes and die in the process.
The culprits are always labour export companies like Nile Treasure Gate Company, managers of orphanages, medical workers and immigration officials, among others.