Two arrested over child kidnap in Wakiso

Police have arrested two men in connection with the kidnap of a three-year-old baby girl from her home in Bweyogerere, Wakiso district.

Erick Nkoyooyo and Musa Sseruwagi allegedly kidnapped three year-old Favour Nabukenya on January 28, from her mother's residence in Bweyogerere.

The duo reportedly asked for a ransom of sh60m or they take the baby to DR Congo where they had threatened to sell the little girl.

"The same men asked for sh100,000 for the child's upkeep, which was sent to them through mobile money," a statement from Kampala Metropolitan Police said yesterday.

Police said they were able to track and arrest the suspects using the mobile phone number onto which the money was sent.

On tracking the phone, police arrested a one Favour Kirabo, 19, the wife of one of the suspects (Sseruwagi), who was found with the baby at Welspring in Kakajo zone, Bweyogerere. Nkoyooyo and Sseruwagi were also later arrested as they moved around in Bweyogerere.

Police said that upon interrogating Sseruwagi's wife (Kirabo), she informed them that her husband had for a long time told her that he had sired a child with another woman and that he would bring the baby. That she thought this was the baby Sseruwagi had for long been talking about.

The girl's mother, Joyce Namugabi, said she was surprised that Nkoyooyo was involved in the kidnap of her daughter because he was a family friend. "He (Nkoyooyo) even escorted me to police to report the case when my child went missing."

The officer in charge of Bweyogerere police station, Karim Majid, working with a team of crime preventers, searched and found the baby.

Police said the two suspects will be charged in court with kidnapping the infant, and that their case was registered under reference number SD 39/28/01/2018 at Bweyogerere police station.