Three Held Over Coltan

Mar 06, 2002

THE Police have arrested three more people in connection with the robbery and mysterious disappearance of coltan mineral worth sh 1.75b, bringing the total to four.

THE Police have arrested three more people in connection with the robbery and mysterious disappearance of coltan mineral worth sh 1.75b, bringing the total to four.Steven candia writes that Assistant Commissioner of Police in-charge of Crime, Edison Mbiringi, could not identify the three. He, however, said the Police had also recovered 100kg of the mineral from the suspects.Mbiringi said they were arrested in Lungunja, Rubaga Division. He did not say when they were arrested.Last Thursday Police arrested Sam Mivule Kabali, an eurologist, in Lunguja with the samples of the mineral. He was detained in Jinja Road Police Station before he was transferred to the Central Police Station. Mbiringi said the Police had interrogated them over the missing mineral.“We have been interrogating them and investigations are still going on, but these are just part of a bigger group who are still at large,” Mbiringi said.The four claimed that the mineral was left in their custody by a man whose name they have refused to disclose. They told the Police that the man had taken the bigger part of the consignment living them with 100kg.Last year the UN report accused Uganda and Rwanda of pillaging natural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo, including Coltan. Both countries denied the accusations. Tantalum, a highly resistant metal powder used in the manufacture of electronic capacitors used in all appliances including mobile phones and computers, is derived from coltan.Ends

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