Man uses egg to kidnap child

Aug 24, 2011

WITH an egg as bait, a suspect reportedly lured a 3-year-old girl from her home in Bulenga, Wakiso district before asking the mother for a sh5m ransom. <br>

By Herbert Ssempogo

WITH an egg as bait, a suspect reportedly lured a 3-year-old girl from her home in Bulenga, Wakiso district before asking the mother for a sh5m ransom.

Little Lazia Nakalembe was last Friday morning playing with friends in a neighbor’s enclosure when Ivan Kayemba, currently on the run, called her.

“When one of my children saw Kayemba, he ran to greet him. He offered him sh100 and told him that he wanted to talk to Lazia,” Zam Lugasa, the child’s mother, stated.

Since Kayemba was Lugasa’s tenant, the girl knew him. She dashed to meet him. They then went to the buy an egg, according to Lugasa.

“From the shop, he told her that they were going to a market. Although my daughter resisted, he cajoled her into going,” Lugasa said, adding that instead, they went to Masuliita in Luweero district.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Ibin Ssenkumbi said that Kayemba and an accomplice George Otukara called Lugasa and asked her for money.

Initially, the men reportedly asked for sh200, 000 to “treat” the baby before demanding for sh5m. Lugasa, shocked by her tenants’ actions, only sent sh150, 000.

Meanwhile, the police, using phone call tracking techniques, had realized that the kidnappers were in Masuliita where they intended to go on Saturday morning.

“But before the team went to Masuliita, it received information that Kayemba was in Makindye in Kampala from where he was picked,” Ssenkumbi told the press at the Rapid Response Unit head office.

Sadly, Kayemba vanished in a scuffle that broke out as Otukura was being netted in Masuliita. The girl has since been reunited with the mother.

Ssenkumbi asked parents to be vigilant particularly when children are home for holidays.

In a separate incident, the police have arrested a Kenyan accused of involvement in armed robbery and other offences committed in Eastern Uganda and Kenya.

Also detained at the Unit head office, Festus Mbweri Mutisha on August 2 allegedly approached a Ugandan, seeking to purchase two guns-a pistol and a sub-machine gun.

However, the unidentified person alerted the police, who posed as gun dealers. He was arrested moments after the transaction, according to Ssenkumbi. He is suspected of being part of a bigger group.

In 2006, he was reportedly arrested in Kenya and prosecuted in a Kenyan court, which sentenced him to 14 years in prison. He was freed on bail when he appealed.

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