A self-confessed serial child abductor and trafficker has been arrested from Elegu town, Amuru district along the Uganda- South Sudan border.
Bakaki Yunusu alias Kabbu, 44, was arrested on Saturday from his home at Lorikwo West Cell during a joint intelligence-led operation by security personnel following a viral blurb social media video in which he openly admitted to a BBC reporter that he has been illegally trafficking children from Uganda to overseas for over 20 years at a cost of £10,000 (about Shs 49 million) per child.
In the video, Bakaki boasts and claims to have a network and connections all over Uganda where he can legally and illegally get the children from parents and children's homes.
A police officer who preferred anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, disclosed that following the social media video, the suspect was identified to be a resident of Elegu, prompting the security in the area to pick interest and mount a search for him.
#Uganda
— Aubriana Emily Nansereko 🇺🇬 (@lilimobeth) May 15, 2021
Child abduction and trafficking
Here is the man who claims to head a network of traffickers across the whole of #Uganda#StopChildTrafficking pic.twitter.com/0YnRQSbYLP
Amuru resident district commissioner (RDC), Geoffrey Oceng Osborn, who also doubles as the chairperson district security committee, told URN that upon interrogation it was established that Kabbu was born in Kibibi village, Buyala parish, Budondo Division, Jinja city in eastern Uganda.
Oceng explains that security personnel suspect Kabbu, who is a driver and runs a restaurant in the area to be engaging in multiple criminal activities at the border including possible links to the sudden disappearance of persons and children in Elegu.
Oceng further revealed that the suspect who is facing criminal charges vide GEF 05/2021 will be referred to the Anti-Trafficking in Person's Desk in Kampala for further investigations.
The 2020 Police Annual Crime report indicates that a total of 666 persons were victims of trafficking compared to 455 victims in 2019.
Of the 666 victims in 2020, 497 were victims of transnational trafficking, 166 internal trafficking while the status of 3 victims was unclear.
The 2009 Anti-trafficking Act criminalized sex trafficking and labour trafficking and prescribed punishments of up to 15 years' imprisonment for offenses involving adult victims and up to life imprisonment for those involving child victims.
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