Security foils weapons trafficking, seizes over 500 sharpened pangas, knives

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Security agencies led by the Police say they have intercepted a passenger service vehicle (taxi) ferrying a large cache of dangerous weapons at a checkpoint, arresting two suspects for further interrogation in Ntoroko district.

According to a copy of an incident report seen by New Vision Online, which was registered at Ntoroko Police Station under CRB: 427/2025, the interception occurred on December 12, 2025, at Rwamabale checkpoint in Bweramule sub-county, Ntoroko.

The operation, led by officers attached to Rwamabale Police post following a tip-off, saw officers stop a white Toyota Commuter taxi, registration number UBF 603B, which was travelling from Kasese to Bundibugyo.

The vehicle was being driven by Yahaya Balikowa, a 38-year-old resident of Kidodo in Kasese municipality.

Upon searching the vehicle, officers discovered a consignment of sharpened weapons concealed in boxes, plastic buckets, sacks and a laptop bag.

“The items, included 116 pangas, 46 spears, 166 knives and 181 sickles, all sharpened and ready for use,” reads the report.

Two passengers were arrested as suspects: Thembo Milton Kajere, 39, and Maate Kajere, 50, residents of Kyapa Village, Buhurwa parish, Buhurwa sub-county, Busongora north, Kasese district.

Police said the suspects alleged that they were transporting the weapons from Kasese to Bundibugyo to look for market.

Due to the sensitive nature of the recovery, the officer in charge alerted Defence Intelligence and Security (DIS) – formerly Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence personnel, who co-ordinated with the 10th Mountain Battalion.

“Acting on instructions from the battalion command, the vehicle and suspects were transferred to Muhoti Mountain Division in Fort Portal city with the recovered weapons for further interrogation as inquiries continue,” reads the report.

Security sources say investigations are ongoing to establish the intended destination and possible links to wider criminal or militant networks.

The interception comes against the backdrop of past security threats in the Rwenzori region.

In an earlier incident late this year, armed militants simultaneously attacked Kasese Central Police Barracks, Malindi and Kakuka Uganda Peoples Defence Forces detachments in Bundibugyo, and attempted raids on Canon Apollo Core Primary Teachers College and Nyakasura Senior Secondary School in Fort Portal.

In Kasese, attackers torched a Police uniport and injured an officer. The assailants were reportedly armed with guns, pangas, knives and catapults, and wore matching black gumboots and jackets.

Charged

Up to 81 suspects in the bloody November 1, 2025, concurrent attacks in Rwenzori were arraigned in the High Court in Kasese on December 12, 2025 and charged with various offences.

The suspects, who included two women, were charged with terrorism, treason, financing terrorism, murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery and remanded to Mubuku Government Prison until December 23, when they will reappear in court.

The court, presided over by George Mfutindinda, the chief magistrate of the Kasese Chief Magistrates’ Court, heard that the suspects, with three others still at large, on November 1, 2025, attacked military and Police installations in the districts of Bundibugyo and Kasese and attempted an attack on two educational institutions in Fort Portal city.

41 killed, 90 captured

According to the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) Mountain Division commander, Maj. Gen. Stephen Mugerwa, 41 attackers were killed across Kasese, Fort Portal and Bundibugyo.

The dead assailants include one of the masterminds of the Bundibugyo attacks, Asuman Mukirania Muganzi of Kakuka II village, Kakuka parish, Sindila sub-county in Bundibugyo, who had drawn an unknown number of the attackers from different parts of Bundibugyo and Kagadi district to his shrine at Kakuka under the guise of renovating his shrine since October 26.

Mugerwa revealed this during a joint meeting with the media, resident district commissioners, Police officers, district internal security officers and UPDF officers at Muhoti Army Barracks in Fort Portal, where he also revealed that 90 others have been captured alive in the three target areas.

A few days after the attacks, security also reported that the operations and logistics coordinator of the militants, identified only as Biira, had been netted in Kasese.

Biira, a resident of Nyamwamba division in Kasese, was intercepted and arrested in Rugendabara Kikongo town council while leading a section that was headed to Kasese to back up the one that attacked Kasese Central Police Station.