Immigration department have arrested and detained 3 foreign nationals for allegedly obtaining National Passports illegally having succeeded in obtaining the national identity card with the help of a one Gibson Sseruwagi a blocker.
The suspects are Sounders David Joshua 27 who claimed to be a businessman, masqueraded as David Ddamba while applying for the passport, Ishimye Gadona ,29, a Burundian national who also applied for the passport using the national identity card and he claimed to be a Munyankole while the third suspect is only identified as Tarisa Sam 29, a Rwandese national was masquerading as Shafic but he managed to escaped while detectives where recording statements from the other suspects.
The Immigration spokesperson Simon Peter Mundeyi while addressing journalist in a joint press conference at Naguru Police based Headquarters, said that on interrogation, the Nigerian national (Saundars) obtained a Ugandan passport with an aim of connecting to German then later to Dubai.
While Ishimye a.k.a Ayina who also holds a Burundian passport first entered Uganda as a musician in 2015, he had after acquiring a passport was arrest at Busia trying to free the country in addition to holding the national identity card he also had a Ugandan birth certificate.
“ Immigration department will ensure that true Ugandans acquire passport using the right means. We will also crack down all illegal acquisition of our national passport such that it doesn’t lose the credibility on the international scene.’’ Mundeyi said.
He further said the blocker (Sseruwagi) charges his clients between UGX 5-10 million and the Nigerian was charged US dollars 5,000 and has been helping non Ugandans to acquire national documents for a long time.
Meanwhile Mudenyi also said that immigration is still stuck with a stock pile of 30,000 passports pending collection from its different centers of Kyambogo, Mbale, Mbarara and Gulu.
He called on all those who applied in 2022 and 2023 and had their bio metric was taken to go to those centers near then to pick their passports or call toll free number 0417102600 for more information.
By George Bukenya