M23 ex-rebels busted selling 7 guns to Ugandans at Bunagana

  • by Ignatius Liposhe
  • January 19, 2017
Rebels

In a hidden corner of Kisoro’s slow Bunagana border town, Uganda Police officers walked quietly looking for smuggled goods. What they found instead was a catalog of weapons, a clue to something bigger.

Ely Maate, the Kigezi Region Police spokesperson, says they on Friday impounded six sub machine guns and a PK Machine Gun but could not divulged details about the arrests and stage of investigations.

Officers intercepted the guns as they were being loaded on a Premio vehicle registration number UAS 978B by officers on night patrol.

 

The discovery of the seven guns according to Kisoro Resident District Commissioner, Hajji Shafique Ssekandi was a big hit to how the recent murders in the border district have been facilitated.

Mr Ssekandi says the officers became suspicious when they saw the vehicle being loaded in a dark and hidden place.

The purchase would merely have been the most spectacular example of how Kisoro district has become a magnet for arms traffickers and a place of vanishing weapons stockpiles and uncontrolled gun markets since the opening of Uganda’s borders to thousands of M23 ex-combatants.

Kisoro District is currently battling an escalation of gun related crimes and aggravated robberies with over ten killings in the past few months recorded.

READ: M23 rebels regroup, executing Ugandans – Kisoro leaders

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