Police arrests man injecting chemicals in chicken before roasting

POLICE|CRIME|FOOD ALTERATION

KAMPALA - The Uganda Police Force has confirmed the arrest of Obrah Tamale, a suspect who was recorded on video injecting an unknown substance into chicken and later roasting and selling them.

Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Luke Oweyesigire confirmed the arrest but declined to reveal his name noting that investigations were still ongoing. 

"We arrested him and he is being detained at Kabalagala on charges of alteration of food," Oweyesigire stated.

Oweyesigire confirmed that the suspect was arrested in Bunga after video footage of him recorded by a passerby caught him injecting the chicken before placing them in an oven was shared widely.

"We arrested him in Bunga at the exact place where the video caught him. The Police in Kabalagala then raided his home in Kyebando and recovered some chemicals which have since been taken to the Government Analytical Laboratory (GAL) for analysis to find out what they were and whether they were dangerous to human health," Oweyesigire further noted.

The suspect was arrested after a video that circulated on social media over the weekend showing a man injecting chicken with an unidentified liquid, using a syringe.

Sources in Kabalagala noted that Tamale had confessed to supplying the chicken to several eateries around Kampala.

"He has confessed that they would buy their chicken from Kalerwe and later inject them with what he calls nutrients before supplying them to other colleagues to roast. We are still carrying out our investigation to determine the extent of his ring," the police source noted.

Police are meanwhile waiting for details of the investigations before determining what step of the action they would take.

In 2018, The New Vision investigation revealed that several butcheries in Kampala were using dangerous chemicals in the preservation of meat and keeping away flies.

Even though the story was condemned by butcher owners, a subsequent follow up by Kampala Capital City Authority confirmed the investigations, and several butchery attendants were arrested and later convicted after they pleaded guilty. 

KCCA has however never told the public what the chemicals they impounded were.