Former Kampala South Regional Police Commander, ACP Sirajje Bakaleke, has handed himself in to police CID headquarters after five years of being in hiding.
SCP Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, said Monday that ACP Bakaleke was temporarily detained and later given bond.
Enanga told the officer he was made to record a statement in regards to the allegation of desertion. His file has been forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecution for perusal and guidance.
Bakaleke and five other officers, including Paul Mugoya Wanyoto, Samuel Nabeta Mulowooza, D/ASP Robert Ray Asiimwe, PC Junior Amanya, PC Gastavas Baby, and PC Kenneth Zirintusa, are accused of extortion of two South Korean nationals, fraud, and kidnapping Rwandan citizens, among others.
“It is true that after several years, he reported to police headquarters and was forwarded to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (CID), where he recorded a statement on charges of desertion. He was briefly detained and then given a police bond, and he is answering it,” Enanga confirmed.
“Desertion is a criminal offense, and the file will go to the DPP later today, and we shall be guided by the legal opinion,” he added.
He revealed that charges against Bakaleke and the other officers had been dismissed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after efforts to trace the suspect had failed, but would be reinstated after the arrest.
Bakaleke and the co-accused are said to have defrauded two South Korean nationals, Park Seunghoon and Jang Shingu, of an unspent amount of money.
The two were investors from McKinley Resource Company Limited and were scheduled to meet some gold dealers in Kampala when the security operatives surrounded them and asked them to hand over the $415,000 they had at gunpoint before they went away with it.