The Police Crime Intelligence Directorate has recorded a sharp increase in fake abductions and kidnaps across the country.

SCP Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, said fake abductions and kidnaps are currently not uncommon.

According to Enanga, victims turned suspects have faked their own kidnappings for personal gains, financial gains, extortions, and intense love for a partner.

“Others have faked kidnaps of their young children to extort money from their respective husbands. We urge the public to desist from such acts of deceit, where kidnapping is used as a tool of fraud,” said SCP Enanga.

On Monday, police confirmed the arrest of Ssekajugo Augustine, a 22-year-old second-year student of dental surgery at Makerere University, who was arrested from his hideout in Butama village, Nakalama parish, in Iganga district.

Enanga said Ssekajugo, who is currently being detained at Wandegeya police station in Kampala, had faked and made up the whole story of his kidnapping, which negatively impacted those who sacrificed their time and resources to help him.

He said the suspect staged the kidnapping after he spent his tuition fees in a sports betting scheme and soon resorted to disappearing from his relatives and renting a room in Butama village, where he was going to start coaching lessons.

Ssekajugo disappeared on May 2, 2023, from his hostel room, leaving all his phones behind to purposely cut off all communication and contact with his relatives.