Gold Bars belonging to the Congolese dealer at Vurra Customs Border in Arua district recently
The Police Regional Criminal Investigations Department in West Nile is investigating three security officials for allegedly soliciting and receiving a bribe worth 36 million Shillings (USD 10,000) from a Congolese gold dealer.
The accused include Francis Odongo, an operative working with the External Security Organisation (ESO), James Opolot, a crime Intelligence Officer and Felix Ezangu, the border internal security officer all attached to Vurra customs border point along the Uganda-DR Congo border in Arua district.
Preliminary reports indicate that the accused, aided the entry of a yet-to-be-identified Congolese gold dealer to evade the Uganda Revenue Authority protocol at the border post on March 24, 2023. The accused reportedly intercepted the businessman before crossing the border, solicited a bribe of 10,000 US Dollars and drove him to Arua city to sell his pieces of gold.
A security official who preferred anonymity told Uganda Radio Network (URN) that the accused persons shared the bribe they got from the gold dealer on March 25, 2023, from Devine Touch Hotel, a few meters from the Vurra Customs border post in Arua district. But they failed to agree in the process.
Arua Resident District Commissioner Godfrey Okiswa says that the matter came to the limelight when the accused officials disagreed on how to share their loot.
Meanwhile, Vurra Sub-county chairperson Joel Pariyo explains that cases of extortion by security operatives are rampant at the border and appealed to the district security committee to intervene.
The accused persons declined to speak to the media.
-URN
