A video clip showing kidnappers cutting off Susan Magara’s fingers in bid to demand ransom from her parents has been recovered by security agencies investigating the crime that sent shock waves around the country in February, PML Daily can exclusively report.
It has emerged that the video was found with the help of a suspect who was arrested in the raid on Usafi Mosque in Kisenyi, Kampala on Friday night.
Highly placed security sources told this website that the suspect led them to a house in Konge, Buziga, where Magara was being held and the video was found during a search of the house.
Mr Magara was forced to raise the money after the kidnappers sent him a video which showed them chopping off his daughter’s fingers and threatening to kill her if they did not raise the $1 million (about Shs3.6 billion) ransom, which was later reduced to Shs700m, following negotiations.
However, Magara was killed by her kidnappers despite her father paying the money.
And now sources added the torture video, which was captured with a phone, has a background of some of the household items found by the investigators in the Buziga house.
The suspect also reportedly led the investigations team to the woman, whose car was used to transfer Magara’s body from the torture house to Kitiko, between Kigo and Kajjansi near the Entebbe Expressway.
The female suspect was arrested along with two others while the car was impounded as investigations continue.
The revelations are the closest the security agencies have reached in attempt to resolve the high profile murder.
Security sources privy to the investigation also revealed that the suspect arrested in the Usafi Mosque raid confessed to have participated in the kidnap and murder of Magara but that he was acting on the orders of someone, whom he is to yet.
Sources privy to the investigations had earlier intimated to this website that besides the arrest and detention of key suspects Patrick Agaba, aka Pato, and Ronald Asiimwe, aka, Kanyankole, they are closing in on another family member, who is also believed to be one of the masterminds of the kidnap and murder of Magara.
The name of the suspect, sources add, was submitted to the investigation team by the Magara family as part of the group they suspected to have been in the mission to demand the Shs700m ransom.
According to intelligence sources, the family member, whose names have been withheld to avoid compromising investigations, fled the country shortly after Magara’s body was discovered and first went to the Middle East before eventually settling in South Africa.
And now security sources are investigating leads that this family member kept leaking to kidnappers details of the conversation between the family, police, security agencies and President Museveni.
The family member was employed at the family’s Bwendero Dairy Farm in Hoima, where Susan was in charge of managing the finances.
This corroborates with an earlier intercepted audio, where the kidnappers showed clear knowledge of the deceased’s father, implying they were known to the family.
“You know these things, don’t dare include the police, do not inform any security agency and do not waste your time. Do not call Interpol, police or ISO. I know this game, I have played it for long. Otherwise I will do something to Susan (Magara) that you will never forget till you die,” one of the kidnappers is heard saying in Runyoro.
A family member is also heard responding: “I cannot sir, I won’t do it sir, No sir (in Runyoro).
The kidnapper adds: ‘Everything you try to do, everything, I know you, I have read the papers, you stay in Lubowa, I know your home in Hoima, your firm. Be loyal and cooperative or else you will get Susan (Magara) in pieces should you even be lucky. If you mess around you will not get a thing.”
This comes after Pato, who is also known to the Magara family, was arrested on March 7 from his apartment in South Africa by South African police working with CMI and ISO operatives.
He reportedly made several questionable mobile money transactions, suspicious telephone calls and travel arrangements shortly after Magara’s murder, prompting ISO and CMI to arrest him.
Security agencies are also investigating links between Pato and the other suspect, Ronald Asiimwe, aka, Kanyankore, after some intelligence sources indicated that the latter was hired by Pato to commit the crime.
The security agencies are also investigating reports that the duo were involved in past criminal activities and have always been available for hire.
So far, 22 suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of Susan Magara.
The other suspect arrested is Bob Kibirango, who is said to be the man whose voice was heard in the recorded communication between the kidnappers and the deceased’s parents.
Preliminary investigations into the killing suggest that Magara may have been raped before she was killed.
