Police raid illegal waragi house in Seeta
Feb 03, 2010
The Police in Mukono on Wednesday morning raided a fenced residential house in Seeta trading centre in Goma sub-county, and impounded distilled waragi.
By John Semakula
The Police in Mukono on Wednesday morning raided a fenced residential house in Seeta trading centre in Goma sub-county, and impounded distilled waragi.
The impounded waragi was found in a big plastic tank, small plastic bottles and sachets.
Other items which were confisticated included machines, bottled waragi, receipts, empty plastic bottles, polythene bags used for packaging and labels of various brands of waragi.
The impounded labels included those of Ideal Waragi, Rwenzori Gin, Prince Vodka and Real Waragi.
The Police also discovered a black chemical suspected to have been used in the manufacture of the waragi. The waragi and other impounded items were found in the different apartments in the boys’ quarters behind the house, owned by Henry Mutabazi.
The Ministry of Health last year banned several brands of waragi sold in sachets after dozens of people from different parts of the country died from drinking poisonous waragi.
The officer in charge of Seeta Police Station, Apollo Kyangungu, said they conducted the operation after a tip from one of the residents.
“Someone called us in the morning and told us that there is someone illegally manufacturing waragi from a fenced residential house in Seeta. We followed the tip and ended up at this house,†he said.
The documents found in the rooms showed that the items belonged to Erias Kwizera and his company, Tevian Investments.
A man in the neighbourhood said Kwizera usually went to the house at night with a group of men to distil the waragi.
There was only one woman at the site who offered to talk to the Police. The rooms in the boys’ quarters were open, but nobody was around.
Kyangungu said the impounded items would be taken to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards for testing.
He added that they suspect the owner was counterfeiting other licensed waragi brands.
By press time, nobody had been arrested in connection with the waragi.
The Police in Mukono on Wednesday morning raided a fenced residential house in Seeta trading centre in Goma sub-county, and impounded distilled waragi.
The impounded waragi was found in a big plastic tank, small plastic bottles and sachets.
Other items which were confisticated included machines, bottled waragi, receipts, empty plastic bottles, polythene bags used for packaging and labels of various brands of waragi.
The impounded labels included those of Ideal Waragi, Rwenzori Gin, Prince Vodka and Real Waragi.
The Police also discovered a black chemical suspected to have been used in the manufacture of the waragi. The waragi and other impounded items were found in the different apartments in the boys’ quarters behind the house, owned by Henry Mutabazi.
The Ministry of Health last year banned several brands of waragi sold in sachets after dozens of people from different parts of the country died from drinking poisonous waragi.
The officer in charge of Seeta Police Station, Apollo Kyangungu, said they conducted the operation after a tip from one of the residents.
“Someone called us in the morning and told us that there is someone illegally manufacturing waragi from a fenced residential house in Seeta. We followed the tip and ended up at this house,†he said.
The documents found in the rooms showed that the items belonged to Erias Kwizera and his company, Tevian Investments.
A man in the neighbourhood said Kwizera usually went to the house at night with a group of men to distil the waragi.
There was only one woman at the site who offered to talk to the Police. The rooms in the boys’ quarters were open, but nobody was around.
Kyangungu said the impounded items would be taken to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards for testing.
He added that they suspect the owner was counterfeiting other licensed waragi brands.
By press time, nobody had been arrested in connection with the waragi.