A housemaid has been arrested by the Police while attempting to sell a three-year-old child belonging to her boss for three million shillings.
Police have identified the suspect as Agnes Namugabo, who is currently in custody at the Jinja central police station.
Namugabo had accused her boss of poor pay, and mistreatment while working for them in Bombo.
She was arrested on Saturday from the Mailo-Mbili roundabout while traveling to Kidera town council in the Buyende district to deliver the child to waiting buyers.
Namugabo disappeared with the minor from Bombo military barracks on Friday evening and switched off her known mobile phone numbers.
According to James Mubi, the Kiira Regional police spokesperson, police were tipped by Namugabo’s boss and immediately mounted a search for the housemaid and the minor.
He said that the suspect, who has confessed to the crime, blamed her boss for delayed payment and maltreatment.
Namugabo told police that she was convinced by her friends in the village to sell the child to recover her delayed salary, and they had offered to secure a market to sell off the child in Kidera town council.The same friends had convinced her that she would be ferried via Lake Kyoga to a safe hideout in Serere district.
“Namugabo was tracked down through the police security cameras and GPS technology. “Police first spotted the suspect at Kampala’s Nakawa-Spears stage while boarding a commuter taxi end route to Jinja city using CCTV footage,” Mubi said.
However, this prompted detectives to alert traffic police personnel at the different points along the Jinja-Kampala highway, who kept inspecting commuter taxis, looking out for the minor.
Mubi says that four plainclothes officers intercepted the suspect, who had since pitched camp at the Mailo-Mbili roundabout along the Jinja-Kamuli road.