Africa-Press – Uganda. A family in Kisenyi ‘A’ village, Busia Town, has tasked government to present information relating to the whereabouts of their son who was abducted .
Mr Rashid Tulimukabi, a butcher, was on September 4 arrested from his place of work in Arubaine on Custom Road in Busia Town and driven away in a drone, a commuter vehicle infamously associated with the arrest of Opposition figures by security operatives dressed in plain clothes.
Witness accounts suggest Mr Tulimukabi was picked up when he was about to have lunch.
Ms Jenifer Kagoya, a food vendor, at the weekend told Daily Monitor that on the fateful day, she had served Mr Tulimukabi a meal at around 3pm when the kidnappers arrived.
“Two men in plain clothes ordered him into the car and when he tried to ask why, the two other men, including one brandishing a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle ordered his handcuffing,” Ms Kagoya said, adding that the mean-looking operatives said they had specifically come to arrest Tulimukabi and not anybody else.
“We have arrested him and not you because he has questions of security nature to answer, so we are only taking him and nobody else,” one of the security men is reported to have told inquisitive residents as they bundled Tulimukabi into the car before speeding off.
From Arubaine, Mr Tulimukabi was reportedly driven to Busia Police Station by the operatives before being whisked to an unknown location, triggering a frantic search by his 70-year-old mother Zainab Kirabira.
“We want whoever arrested my son to come out and tell us if he is dead so that we can pick up his body for a decent burial. If he is alive, we want to access him,” she said, adding that such arrests were reminiscent of the 1970s.
Mr Abubaker Rashid, one of his sons, said the family learnt of their father’s arrest from his friend who claimed their father was being detained at Busia Police Station, but by the time they went there, they could not find him.
He added that they have gone to police several times seeking information [about his arrest and whereabouts], but police have reportedly remained tight-lipped.
“Government should explain why our father was arrested and where he is being held,” he said of the sole breadwinner in a family of more than 15 people.
Ms Aisha Nabwire, one of the victim’s daughters, said at the time of arrest, her father had been complaining of ill-health.
Mr Moses Mugwe, the Bukedi region police spokesperson, said he was not aware of the alleged arrest and had not received any complaint from the family.
“I am just learning of the arrest from the media because none of the family members has filed a formal complaint,” Mr Mugwe said.
On Masaka killings
However, highly placed security sources told Daily Monitor that Mr Tulimukabi was arrested by a joint police and army operation in relation to the killings in Masaka and is being held at the Special Investigations Unit in Kireka.
“We have him in relation to the killings in Masaka and hope he will provide us with information about those murders,” the source said.
Those who have worked with the suspect, however, say he is being framed, describing him as a “peaceful man with no criminal background”
