Italian national arrested for faking kidnap

Police have in custody a one Franco Corona, an Italian national who faked own kidnapped after gold deal gone wrong.

Police first received a complaint on August 8, 2019, through an International call from Mirella Corona, that her son Franco, who flew to Uganda from Hong Kong on August 2, 2019, had been kidnapped and tortured by suspected gold dealers.

However, upon investigations, Police established that Franco was never kidnapped but he was rather involved in a fake gold deal which led to his arrest.

“Franco Corona, first came to Uganda on the 9/03/2019, to purposely transact in gold. He met with some Congolese dealers, who cheated and sold him fake gold nuggets. Upon realising that he had been duped, he returned to Hong Kong. After four months, he returned to Uganda on the 2/08/2019, booked accommodation at Ivory Castle Hotel, Muyenga till 4/08/ 2019, when he disappeared from the Hotel. On the 5/08/2019, he went to First Jewelry shop, at Sheraton Hotel, with his samples which were evaluated and established as fake gold. The victim deposited his Italian passport number YB3010126, as security and retrieved it on the 7/08/2019 upon clearing the testing fees of USD 400,” said Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“He thereafter, left for Entebbe International Airport, where he was arrested for being in possession of undeclared gold. It was confiscated and exhibited, after it was established as fake gold, and the suspect released on bond, to report back on the August 12, 2019.”

According to Enanga, the security task teams later traced Franco at Grand Imperial Hotel and handed him over to CID Headquarters for further management.

“The victim admitted that he had fabricated his story, and was never at risk. He is now fully cooperating with the task team, who are also investigating the suspects behind fake gold scams,” the Police mouthpiece revealed.

“Despite the crackdown on fake gold dealers, this latest incident shows fraudsters still exist. They use gold plated metal bars, nuggets or powder to dupe their victims, majorly foreigners. They show their prospective buyers samples of genuine gold which are positively evaluated before entering into a sale agreement. Buyers easily fall into a trap of making huge profits.”