The Uganda Police force has established a kidnap response centre to deal with the increasing cases of kidnap in Kampala and other parts of the country. Currently, at least seven of the people who have been reported kidnapped over the last four months are still missing.
According to police data base, at least 85 cases of Kidnap were reported across the country since February 2018. However, 43 of these were false alarms, 20 self-kidnaps and 22 were serious.
Now, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martin Okoth Ochola tells the media that seven victims out of the 22 serious cases, were murdered and bodies recovered, eight were rescued and seven are still missing, but that the force is doing everything to find the missing persons whose identities he did not reveal.
According to the IGP, the rampant kidnaps are facilitated by demand for ransom to finance terrorist activities, crimes of passion, self-kidnaps and kidnap for rituals. Meanwhile, the seven victims are mainly women and children.
The 24/7 emergency kidnap response centre is so thatnpeople get to report any cases of kidnap, and this facility will be housed at the Police headquarters, comprising personnel from all responsible police Units who will follow up and coordinate call rescue efforts.
Also, toll-free numbers have been set up to report any cases of kidnap. The numbers are 0800-199-990, 0800-199-991 and 0800-199-992.
After the rampant murders of women in the areas of Entebbe and Nansana, kidnaps are now the scariest crime in the country. Women and children are the most targeted groups.
