Last weekend, disturbing news put Ugandans on pressure when they were informed that the dreaded ISIL had set base in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The ISIS used an attack in congo’s Beni town to announce their presence within the great lake region. UPDF and ISO issued terror alerts and released suspect’s images to the public.
Unfortunately today morning we received Intel that the terrorist sneaked in and out of Uganda via Uganda’s most secure border point the Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport.
According to today’s new vision the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) has embarked on investigations to determine under which circumstances suspected terrorist linked to the dreaded Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly entered the country and managed to fly out the same time.
According to ISO’s Intel shows that an Afghanistan national, Rashidi Abdul Tawab, was able and consequently managed to find his way into Uganda without proper documents including an entry visa but he was able to fly out via Entebbe airport with immigration officers being suspicious.
According to immigration policies at Entebbe international airport, before anyone comes in or out of Uganda the Immigration staff is charged with checking travelers at exit and entry points, but ISO found it suspicious that Tawab managed to enter the country.
Last weekend, ISO issued a terror alert and released photos of suspected ISIL terrorists, which they said, attempted to enter Uganda the images were put into immigration database to raise red flags when a facial recognition system spotted Tawab.
It’s therefore led to assumptions that immigration staff member could have disabled the red alert or Entebbe facial recognition software could have been hacked to allow Tawab escape from Uganda
The listed people included Tawab, and other two unidentified suspects. However, investigations now show that Tawab actually entered the country. As a result, ISO has launched investigations to establish how Tawab entered the country, and how immigration staff at Entebbe airport failed to spot him, and allowed him to fly out.
The ISO boss, Col. (rtd) Frank Bagyenda Kaka, confirmed that they are investigating the circumstances under which the suspected terrorist entered and left the country through Entebbe airport.
There are also reports that Immigration officials at the Busia border are being probed over allowing foreign nationals to enter the country without proper documentation or without following the proper procedure.
On April 12, a concerned Ugandan shared information claiming that he witnessed Immigration officials at Busia border stamp passports of six Somali nationals without their owners presenting themselves.
“On Friday morning (April 12) at Busia border, a lone bespectacled lady is on duty. Then, another officer who is the subject of this tweet enters carrying a manila envelope. Six green passports came out of it and were stamped promptly. I know they are Somali passports because I read,” the witness stated in a tweet he shared with New Vision.