Security raids suspected ADF training cell

Crime 

Crime intelligence operatives under the Uganda Police have arrested over 100 youth from a suspected Allied Democratic Front (ADF) training cell in Mpigi district.

The cell, according to security sources, is one of the places used to allegedly recruit youth to engage in terrorism activities, with their co-ordination office located in Bugiri town in eastern Uganda.

According to Brig. Chris Ddamulira Sserunjogi, the director of crime intelligence, on Thursday, his office got intelligence information that an organisation known as ISTI Qaama International Company, was gathering youth from different parts of the country.

They have been gathering them in their recruitment centre located in Park View cell in Mpigi town council.

Ddamulira said he first dispatched a team that carried out surveillance and indeed confirmed that a number of youth had been gathering at the place at different intervals.

The security operatives on Saturday raided the place and arrested those that were around the home. Ddamulira said 22 suspects were picked up, but other sources intimated that the number was over 100.

Sources also said the operation by Police at William Street Mosque in Kampala recently was linked to the raid and arrests in Mpigi.

Eyewitnesses said some of the youth who stay in the home had moved out at the time of the raid, but the operatives used their colleagues to call them back, although some sensed danger and fled.

Some of the suspects reportedly claimed they were hired to build Muslim schools and mosques in the area, but they were unable to reveal the schools they had built.

Ddamulira said preliminary information indicated that the youth, including young girls, who were being picked up from various places of the country, had been promised jobs and connections to organisations that would offer them scholarships.

However, the whole arrangement, he said, was to indoctrinate them into joining the ADF's ranks. It was found out that majority of the youth were recruited from Bugiri and Kibuku.

One of the group coordinators, only identified as Yasin, was arrested in Kibibi Butambala district. One of the people arrested from Mpigi was identified as Faisal Ngobi from Bugiri.

Ngobi rented the entire house from a landlord only identified as Kabiriti. The suspects included 13 girls, who were reportedly staying in one of the rooms.

The youth were first taken to Mpigi Police Station, where screening was carried out. At least three were released and the rest driven to Kampala, where they are being detained at the Special Investigations Directorate in Kireka as the hunt for the co-ordinators of the activities continues.

The ADF terrorist group has been operating in Uganda and in eastern DR Congo.

The ADF, declared a terror organisation by Ugandan authorities some years back, has caused havoc in the DR Congo, where they have committed massacres.

Crime intelligence operatives were also hunting for one Abdallah Sulaiman Kakaire, suspected to be one of the top co-ordinators, who allegedly has a base in Bugiri town.

According to Ddamulira, the suspects claimed to have come to Mpigi in February. They claimed that some of the youth they found at the place left under unclear circumstances.

Sources in Mpigi town council revealed that the youth, including those recruited locally, were lured with promises of jobs in different local and foreign companies.

Ddamulira said on October 15 last year, they also obtained information that there were two ADF cells in Kiteezi, Wakiso district.

He said when the cells were raided, operatives recovered tools and materials allegedly used in assembling homemade explosive devices.

They also recovered literature allegedly used in training and indoctrinating their recruits.

The Police handed over the suspects to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) for further management.

According to sources, the operation was still going on in other parts of the country.

The Katonga region Police spokesperson, Lydia Tushabe, confirmed the arrests, saying they were carried out by operatives from the CID headquarters in Kibuli.

The ISTI Qaama International company, according to the Police, is not registered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau or Uganda Muslim Supreme Council as an NGO.

Security authorities have linked ADF to international terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) as well as alQaeda.

CMI arrests in Masaka

Recently, CMI arrested eight suspects from Masaka linked to the ADF. The suspects included Sheikh Ahmada Ssentongo and Dalawusi Wasswa, both members of Masgid Salaf in Masaka town.  Others arrested in Masaka are Umar Nsubuga, Lamulah Nakyeyune, Twaha Kayondo and Noordin Ssali.