New details have emerged yesterday evening about missing doctor from the International Hospital Kampala (IHK) together with records officer of Arua Regional Referral Hospital who was also abducted. Catherine Agaba, 25, a medical doctor at IHK, went missing from her home in Muyenga, a city suburb, on April 14, while Jamila Asha Atim, a medical records assistant at Arua Hospital was waylaid by seven gunmen on Wednesday, at about 9:00pm.
According to Uganda’s Newspaper Sunday vision who interviewed the Arua district Democratic Party chairperson, Fadhil Lemeriga said that, Atim was ambushed by seven men with AK-47 rifles near Smash roundabout in River Oli Division after parking her car at Kamure Park. Lemeriga said Atim was walking to her home, which is opposite the Kamure Park in Obolokofuku West cell, Arua Municipality, when gunmen pushed her into a car with tinted windows, before driving off at breakneck speed to Onduparaka trading centre.
He said when they reached Odramacaku border post, they returned to Arua town via the same route, in order to confuse the people. Muzaid Khemis, the LC3 chairperson of River Oli division in Arua Municipality, said the kidnappers reportedly used a Toyota Noah of UAZ series adding that it was silver in colour.
“The gunmen disappeared after seeing concerned people advancing towards them. But unconfirmed reports reaching the family say the kidnappers changed the car they used to pick Atim and headed to Malaba, on the Uganda-Kenya border,” he said.
According to Sunday Vision, it was learnt that Atim, who also runs a boutique on Avenue Road in Arua Municipality, had received threats from an unidentified man in January, this year, and that she reported the case to Arua Central Police Station.
“But no action was taken,” Khadijah Zawadi, a family member, said.
The family has opened up a case of kidnap on reference 95/17/04/2019 at Arua Central Police Station,” Zawadi said. The Police said investigations were underway, to establish her whereabouts.
Police in Kabalagala have arrested a man in connection with the disappearance of Agaba. The suspect was allegedly picked up on Friday from his rented apartment in Kisugu, Makindye division, where Agaba is believed to have been spotted, before she went missing on Sunday morning.
While to speaking to a local news reporter from Ugnada, Patrick Onyango the spokesperson of Kampala Metropolitan Police, told Vision reporter that the suspect was in custody to help them with investigations. He, however, declined to give his identity, saying it would jeopardize the ongoing investigations.
“We have so far arrested one suspect and our detectives have subjected him to interrogation over the missing IHK doctor,” Onyango said.
It has been established and confirmed that the suspect in police custody is a Ugandan doctor who is based in the US.
“He has been on leave in Uganda. The Police have arrested him because, some time back, he allegedly got some misunderstandings with Agaba, his girlfriend, who he accused of seeing another man, also a medical doctor, hailing from Kenya,” a source said