A call print out from the mystery number also showed that, the same number would call another person each time they spoke with Nalinya. This particular number was traced to the assassination scene in Bulenga in Wakiso District. CMI operatives then began trying to figure out the owners of the phone numbers that were switched off.
Preliminary police investigations into the assassination of the former Buyende District Police Commander, Muhammad Kirumira show that Abdul Katerega was one of the gunmen who fired the killer shots, URN has learnt. Kirumira was gunned down last month together with Resty Nalinya Mbabazi at Bulenga in Wakiso district on their way home.
On Friday last week, Joiny Anti-Terrorism Task Force-JATT conducted an operation in Namungona leading to the arrest of several suspects. However, one of the suspects identified as Abdul Katerega succumbed to gunshot wounds he sustained in the operation while being rushed to hospital.
JATT operatives intercepted Katerega at his wife's shop at Luyinja in Namungoona from where he is said to have attempted to flee and was shot in the hip and bled to death. Katerega is a former combatant under the rebel Allied Democratic Force—ADF. According to security sources, he was picked in 2001 for throwing bombs around Kampala and Jinja but was given amnesty.
He was implicated in Kirumira's following three weeks of investigations by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and Police. The investigations included the Scene of crime and ballistic analysis, witness statements and a thorough perusal of the exhibits recovered from the crime scene.
According to a reliable source privy to the investigations, Katerega was linked to the assassination through Nalinnya's mobile phone that was recovered from Kirumira's vehicle. The source told URN that while perusing the phone records, they noticed that Nalinya had received consecutive calls from a specific phone number including the last call minutes before the shooting.
The operatives secured call printouts of Nalinya's phone and that of Kirumira. The printouts reportedly showed that Nalinya called Kirumira at around 6pm after receiving calls from the mysterious number.
A call print out from the mystery number also showed that, the same number would call another person each time they spoke with Nalinya. This particular number was traced to the assassination scene in Bulenga in Wakiso District. CMI operatives then began trying to figure out the owners of the phone numbers that were switched off.
The process included checking with telecom companies, which led to arrest of the registered owners of the phone numbers. The operatives also picked up a few other people who had called the numbers before landing on Katerega and another suspect whose identity has been withheld by security.
According to security, Katerega was the recipient of the information collected from Nalinya. His cell number also placed him at the scene of crime minutes before and during the assassination.
All together 10 suspects were to be arrested including Katerega and wife, Mariam Kasujja. Four other suspects were picked up from Adjumani district. These include Abdul Karim Walugembe, Sekyanzi, Shaban Najibu and Abasi Waswa Abasi, the owner of the house they were found occupying.
CMI operatives also raided a home in Buliisa district where they picked up Abubaker Kalungi, a carpenter in Bulenga who is said to have made consecutive calls to Nalinya. Kalungi was picked up together with Mohammed Yosefu and Bashir Hamis, the owner of the house they were staying in.
Kalungi has since appeared before Wakiso magistrate's court after it was discovered that his only role was to provide Katerega information, which played a key role in the assassinations.
Mariam Kasujja on the other hand remains in CMI custody until today. Her detention followed a search in her home before Katerega died where JATT operatives recovered documents showing that she received US$10,000US Dollars days leading to Kirumira's assassination.
The nine are not the only suspects being held in connection to Kirumira's assassination. Seven other suspects including Godfrey Ssenono, the Officer in Charge of Operations at Old Kampala Polkce station and former Flying Squad operatives had been picked up earlier on.
The Inspector General of Police, Martin Okoth Ochola says, the suspects who are being held on tentative charges of murder are locked up in gazzated detention centers.
Dear Jeanne
Freelancer
