Micheal Karugire, the proprietor of Qadar Recruitment Agency fled to Kenya after conning more than 800 million Shillings from job seekers, the Kampala metropolitan police have confirmed.
Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, says that all their leads show that Karugire fled to Kenya.
He says that the Kampala criminal investigations team is preparing an official notification to Interpol asking the Kenyan police to apprehend and extradite him to Uganda for prosecution.
Economic and cybercrime detectives launched a hunt for Karugire barely a fortnight ago after seven major police stations in Kampala recieved dozens of complaints accusing him of fleecing millions of money in job scams. The cases were reported at Nateete, CPS, Old Kampala, and Katwe policing divisions.
Karugire advertised jobs on Facebook promising prospective employees more than five million shillings in Nexen Tire Company in South Korea. Other jobs which attracted more than 300 applicants in a space of three months were in Canada, Qatar, and Turkey.
Sisters Priscilla Akugizibwe and Marion Namara are some of the victims of Qadar recruitment agencies. Unlike Hassan Ssempijja and others who learned about Qadar via Facebook posts, Akugizibwe and Namara were approached by the company agents.
“They told us we were going to work in South Korea. We asked them our questions and they assured us. We paid 10 million Shillings on September 26, 2022. They told us we would go in 18 days. But since that time we have not traveled. They keep telling us that our Visas are out but we don’t travel,” Namara said.
Onyango says that much as Karugire is suspected to have fled the country, his agents are still active in the field dupping other unsuspecting job seekers. Police have warned the public against dealing with Qadar Recruitment Agency because it has since closed its offices in Kabuusu near Monalisa Pub.
“We have registered several complaints against that company called Qadar Recruitment Agency. They have defrauded over 800m from very many people within a short period of three months. We already have information that there are still some people who they call and tell to meet either in the bank or restaurant. They have run away from the offices. Do not deal with them,” Onyango said.
Namara said when Sharon Ndagire and one Amina from the company convinced them about jobs at Nexen Tire Company in South Korea, they also made searches and noticed that the employment opportunities were indeed available.
Akugizibwe and Namara said they used all their savings including borrowing from relatives and friends to raise five million Shillings each so that they could secure jobs in South Korea. The money, according to the duo, was for Visa processing and securing their jobs in South Korea. But Karugire and his agents have been tossing them up and down.
-URN
