Uganda Police hold two over human trafficking in South Sudan

Police in Adjuman district, in Northern Uganda have detained two people in a probe where a human trafficking ring allegedly smuggled eight South Sudanese nationals into Uganda.

Maguek Machar, a South Sudan refuge at Ocea Refugee Settlement, based at Madi-Okollo district, and Salih Yonsif,42, a resident of Tanganyika Cell, in Oli Division, Arua City, allegedly committed the offence on October 04, 2023,according to Fred Enanga  spokesperson of Uganda Police Force.

While addressing the media in Kampala on Wednesday, Enanga  said that the suspects were intercepted at Sinyanya VLG, located in Maaji Parish, Ukusijoni Sub-County, in Adjuman district, in a vehicle Toyota Noah, registration number SSD 532M.

Other occupants in the same vehicle were named as :; Ibrahim Sana Siddige, 48, Adam Ali Samar, 27, Adam Ali Younies Tanga, 23 plus four minors (names withheld) aged between 10 and 17 years.  Investigations have established that the victims  all male had been trafficked from Nyala in South Darfur.

“The suspects convinced the victims that they would help them acquire good basics of life with ease, but as of now, we have handed them over to the Office of the Prime Minister, for further management while the suspects shall be charged with trafficking in persons,” Enanga said.

Statistics show that of the 1,200 reported human trafficking incidents, in Uganda, at least 526, are involved in exploitation from within while 63, are being exploited abroad.

According to 2023 US report on human trafficking in Uganda, the government reported initiating prosecutions against 728 alleged traffickers in 589 cases in 2022, compared with prosecuting 537 individuals in 403 cases in 2021. 

The report further highlighted that Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action.