A sex worker of Rwandan origin was at the centre of the kidnap of a top diplomat at the Egyptian Embassy in Uganda who was recently rescued by security agencies.
Hamid Ali Abu,40, a financial manager to the first secretary at the Egyptian Embassy in Kampala was on Wednesday last week rescued by a joint team of security agencies.
“He was last seen at Garden City driving his car registration number UBG 913S Rav 4 and when he didn’t return home, relatives got concerned and opened a case of missing person at Jinja Road Police Station,” Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire said on Wednesday.
Police said that after the relatives reported the matter, investigations into the disappearance kicked off and midway, relatives received a phone call from an unknown person asking for a ransom of $40,000( approximately shs146 million) before they release the victim.
“They demanded a ransom of $40,000 from the relatives.”
Owoyesigyire said that the suspects were tracked to Buloba and later encircled and during the operation, one suspect was shot and injured.
He would later die at Mulago where he had been rushed for treatment.
The victim was rescued and two suspects arrested.
The plot
This website has learnt from sources that following the disappearance of the diplomat, the Flying Squad Unit under the Directorate of Crime Intelligence swung into action for work.
They discovered that the Hamid had actually been kidnapped and were later joined by the Special Forces Command, Counter Terrorism and Defence Intelligence and Security(DIS) formerly CMI.
This website has learnt that the main suspect, Isaac Tumubwine who was later killed during the rescue had earlier on a Saturday on November, 2 met one Hamza Bagambe in Mbarara during a football match.
These were known to each other.
In Mbarara, Tumubwine invited Bagambe to Kampala to help him carry out a mission of kidnapping a man whom he said ‘was having an affair with his wife.’
By a man having an affair with his wife, Tumubwine meant the Egyptian diplomat but it is however not known whether this was true.
On November, 8, Tumubwine traveled to Kampala together with Bagambe and went to the former’s home.
This is the same day that the family of Hamid said he was last seen.
Enter sex worker
According to investigations, the two suspects later waited at a shop in Lubowa and after some minutes, a lady known as Shadia passed by .
Shadia has since been identified as Natasha Shadia Katabateshi from Rwanda and had come to Uganda in August and was working as a sex worker.
Meanwhile, when Katabateshi moved, he met the Egyptian diplomat near Galaxy International School in Lubowa.
This is where the diplomat was kidnapped when the duo pounced on him and bundled him into his own car boot.
Moved around country
This website has also learnt that after the kidnap, the trio drove the vehicle with the diplomat in the boot up to Luweero .
At one point, the kidnappers called the victim’s family demanding for a ransom of $40,000( approximately shs146 million) before they could release the victim.
Meanwhile, security which had intensified the manhunt for the kidnappers located them in Luweero and as operatives drove their, they realized that the vehicle they were tracking had changed direction and was now returning to Kampala.
The operatives continued following it and when the vehicle registration number UAZ 247S was run into the Number Plate Reading system for its history, it was indicated the vehicle had moved from Entebbe road to Luweero.
Meanwhile the hot pursuit continued and it was observed the vehicle was at sometime at Matugga, then through the Wakiso-Sentema- Buloba road .
Here, the operatives decided to pounce on it after confirming it was the one they were looking for.
The security operative intercepted the vehicle which had three occupants and in the resultant melee, the driver opened the door and attempted to run.
He was shot at and later succumbed to injuries at Mulago.
The deceased has since been identified as Isaac Tumubwine, the mastermind of the kidnap mission.
Two other suspects including Natasha Shadia Katabateshi and Hamza Bagambe, 18 were arrested.
The Egyptian diplomat was also rescued but was in bad condition after the torture he went through at the hands of his kidnappers.
This website has also learnt that by the time the suspects were intercepted, they were moving to a lodge in Buloba where they were to spend a night, as they had done in Luwero where they first took the diplomat.
Last week, the Police Crime Intelligence Director, AIGP Christopher Ddamulira congratulated joint security forces for successfully pulling off the rescue mission.
You have made us proud as a country. It is a reassurance to all Ugandans and all other people in the country that security forces will always do whatever is possible to protect life and property,” AIGP Ddamulira said.
He said the suspects will face the law.
How security rescued top Egyptian diplomat from kidnappers who had asked shs145m in ransom
