The arrest of Sheikh Abubaker Kalule who was reportedly captured by state operatives on Wednesday is surrounded by mystery. Sheikh Kalule, the Imam of the Tabliq mosque in Kasubi – Kawaala, a Kampala suburb was arrested from near his home in Kawaala at 9:00 pm
Kalule’s wife Faridah Nakintu says that the operation could have started at around 4 p.m. when she received a phone call from her friend Zainabu Nakajja who was reportedly sick and held up in a clinic.
But on her way to the clinic, she was surrounded by unknown plain-clothed personnel who intimidated her into boarding their vehicle. To her surprise, the friend who feigned sickness earlier was in the same car. Nakintu recalls seeing several guns and other weapons in that car.
She says she was questioned about her husband’s source of income and contacts in her phone. Her captors reportedly checked her phone and questioned her about specific contacts in her phonebook. Nakintu says that she was also questioned on her husband’s whereabouts and how he was dressed.
According to Nakintu, the detectives who had now been joined by the Officer in Charge of Kawaala station parked their vehicle, a taxi whose registration number she did not record, a few meters from the mosque. But the officer in Charge of Kawaala Police Post reportedly told them that they were likely to meet resistance if they tried to arrest anyone from around that mosque.
This is when they started tracking Kalule’s movements. However, Nakintu says, she was cautioned that she would be detained if they lost track of him. He was later grabbed in the process and dragged into the same vehicle which was then driven to Kawaala Police station.
Nakintu says that she was told that the husband was being taken to the Criminal Investigations Department and that he would return home as soon as they are through with his issues. But, according to Nakintu, the family has since failed to trace him.
Kalule’s mother Saudah Nakamanya said the circumstances under which Kalule was arrested are shocking and surprising.
The Deputy Spokesperson of Uganda People’s Defense Forces Lt Col Deo Akiiki told URN that ‘Kalule is currently being held at Special Investigations Unit in Kireka and that he is under investigations on matters prejudicial to National security.
Meanwhile, locals from Kawaala told URN that Kalule could have been arrested in relation to the death of former Buyende District Police Commander Muhammad Kirumira who was gunned down on September 8 in Bulenga.
The locals say that one suspect, Abdu Kateregga who was recently shot dead in Namungoona over the murder used to pray from the same mosque where Kalule is the Imam. They allege that after Kateregga’s shooting, Kalule was captured on television defending his innocence.
