Kidnappers release Kanungu school children after receiving Shs3.5m ransom

The two school children abducted on Easter Monday in Kihembe Parish, Kanyantorogo Sub County, Kanungu district, have been released from captivity.

This after their relatives paid Shs3.5 to the kidnappers.

Enos Mirimo’s sons, Ronald Niwagaba, 18 and Dan Tweheyo, 15 were kidnapped while harvesting bananas from their uncle’s plantation by two men, according to Elly Maate, the Kigezi region police spokesperson.

They are pupils of Rukarara Primary School in Kihembe Parish in Kanyantorogo Sub County, close to the close to the border with Democratic Republic of Congo.

“One of the two suspected gun men donned an army uniform and carried a gun while the second one was clad in civilian clothes and was armed with a panga,” Maate says.

“The children were part of a group of eight others who were working in the banana plantation owned by Gadi Mirimo, but others were left to go.”

The kidnappers wanted Shs11 million.

On Wednesday, Maate said they were received by the family members in good health condition.

“I would like to tell Ugandans that the country is safe. However, all these kidnaps happening are done in DR Congo. Ugandans and Congolese living along the borders of the two countries have intermarried and usually have a tendency of crossing the borders as they wish usually to visit their relatives,” Maate said. “This is to request Ugandans not to enter Congo because it is not safe.

Early this month, suspected kidnappers of US tourist Kimbley Sue Endicott were arrested in Kanungu.

Endicott and a Ugandan tour guide Jean Paul Mirenge were kidnapped by four gunmen, who hijacked their safari vehicle from Queen Elizabeth National Park on April 2.

They demanded a ransom of $500,000 (about Shs1.8b) using Ms Sue and Mirenge’s cell phones.
Police said the two were rescued from the Democratic Republic of Congo by a joint effort involving the Uganda police force, Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) and sister security agencies.