Richard Tusasibwe, a tour operator who was arrested for fleecing USD21,500 [Shs77 million] from tourists was released on a non cash bail of Shs80 million, and his passport confiscated.
He was released on Wednesday morning by the Kabale chief magistrate, Julius Borore.
Among other conditions on his bail, Tusasibwe will handover to court a land title registered in his names that is worth Shs10 million.
He was arrested by tourism police on Monday last week at Arcadia Cottages in Kabale; near Lake Bunyonyi; where he was in hiding.
Tusasibwe who owns Gatatu safaris limited is alleged to have been contracted by five American tourists to organize chimpanzee and gorilla tracking expedition in Uganda. After an airport pickup and arrival in Kisoro, Tusasibwe abandoned the tourists at Chameleon Hill hotel in Kisoro and has been on the run for the past two weeks.
Tusasibwe will return to court on 5th September 2019.
Despite, Kigezi sub region harboring 60 percent of Uganda’s top tourist attractions, it also tops in most tourism related crimes in the country.
In January this year, the tourism police in Kabale arrested Didan Atukunda of Mamba Gorilla Safaris for allegedly defrauding $27,000 from a Dutch tourist. In October 2018, tourism police arrested Mugerwa Ahebwa for allegedly defrauding an American tourist Mendy Payne of over $18,000.
Herbert Byaruhanga, the president of the Uganda Tourism association in July this year while training tour managers from the Kigezi sub region in Kabale warned that the region has very many fake orphanages that target to fleece money from foreigners. He said companies own fake websites that are never updated and that this has tainted the name of the country and the tourism sector.
