KAMPALA – Police have announced that they have arrested three people, including the man caught on CCTV camera driving the car belonging to social worker Maria Nagirinya who was kidnapped and killed alongside her driver Ronald Kitayimbwa about 10 days ago.
Nagirinya and Kitayimbwa were kidnapped by men in Lungujja, Rubaga Division in Kampala City on the night of August 28. The suspects later abandoned their victim’s car and dumped their bodies in Mukono District.
Addressing journalists in Kampala on Monday, Mr Fred Enanga, the police spokesman, revealed the details.
“We have arrested three prime suspects, including the man who was driving Maria Nagirinya’s car (the one who was in a red jacket). We are now interrogating them further to get more details. A sim card belonging to Ronald Kitayimbwa who was murdered alongside Maria Nagirinya was also recovered from the suspects,” he said.
Security sources told this website that the three prime suspects were picked up on Sunday night by a joint team of investigators comprising of the Police’s Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).
The suspects are currently held at CMI facility in Kireka as they undergo further interrogation.
According to sources, the suspects were arrested following the arrest of a woman, Fortune Ayebare Mugisha. According to sources, Ayebare was in constant communication with one of the suspect linked to the killers.
Last Tuesday, deputy police spokesperson Polly Namaye released the CCTV footage showing Nagirinya’s car, a Spacio registration number UBA 570V, being driven by one of the kidnappers.
However, the police images of the suspect aren’t clear enough. It was taken by an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera. A police source said the facial recognition cameras on the route that the suspects are said to have used didn’t capture the driver’s face due to insignificant lighting. Apparently, the suspect in the car appears to have to gloves, which is important evidence if fingerprints are lifted. Mr Enanga said the fingerprints had been lifted by detectives.
Police had put undisclosed amount of money to anyone with information that would lead to the arrest of a person in the images that security agencies released yesterday.
