At least 11 Ugandans are among 16 Africans rotting in police cells in Bangkok, Thailand over alleged trafficking in drugs and immigration offences.
Ugandans whose identities are yet to be revealed were arrested in a swoop after a combined force of immigration police, commandos from the Narcotics Suppression Bureau and Makksan police searched the condominium in the popular entertainment area on Rama IX Road a fortnight ago.
The forces were looking for a group of Africans for alleged drugs and immigration offences.
According to reports, rented rooms in the eight-storey building were searched and an Ethiopian man and 16 women, 11 Ugandans, four Tanzanians and a Syrian, were arrested, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau announced on Facebook.
Uganda’s Foreign Affairs junior Minister, Okello Oryem, though revealing he was not aware of the arrest, said Uganda is a dignified country which does not condone crime.
He said Ugandans who go abroad and commit crime should be punished.
“Uganda has a good name and if you commit a crime, you should be jailed and keys thrown away. Let the country’s law take their course,” he said on Sunday.
He noted that although it’s required that all Ugandans who travel abroad should first register with the nearest embassy, most of them do not and it’s very difficult to help them when they run into trouble.