Police in Mukono District are holding a Senior Two student of Panorama College for allegedly kidnapping two of his cousin’s children and demanding a ransom from their parents.
According to the children’s mother, Ms Marvis Iriko, her cousin picked up the children, aged two and four, from their home in Kigunga Cell, Mukono Municipality, on Friday, September 26, at around 6 pm. She explained that she had taken a nap, leaving the children playing in the compound with other neighborhood kids, and when she woke up intending to bathe them, she found that they were missing.
The worried parents immediately reported the case to Seeta Police Station, which later referred them to Mukono. A search operation was then launched. Ms Iriko said she later received an anonymous call on Saturday, during which the caller claimed to be holding the children and demanded money in exchange for their release. She added that the caller insisted she should deposit an amount she considered equivalent to the value of her children but also requested Shs30,000 to cover the cost of feeding them.
Police investigations led to the arrest of Ms Iriko’s cousin, who had kept the children in a rented room in Nabuti Village. The children were rescued unharmed, and the suspect is currently being detained at Mukono Central Police Station pending further inquiries.
On arrest, the suspect admitted that he was broke and thought the abduction would be a quick way to get money. He said he had not intended to harm the children but only wanted financial relief, adding that he had been planning to return them because caring for them had become too expensive.
The children’s father, Mr Ronald Tibesigwa, expressed suspicion that members of his wife’s family might have been involved in a plot to extort money from him, pointing to what he described as their unusually relaxed attitude toward the abduction. Police, however, have stated that they are concentrating on investigating the suspect’s motives and whether he had any accomplices.
