Nanugongo: Police Searching For 20 Missing Children

Following the Martyr’s Day ceremonies at the Namugongo shrines on Saturday, 20 children were reported missing by their parents. Police have started a search for them. The majority of the cases, according to Caroline Kushemererwa, head of the Child and Family Protection Unit in the Kampala Metropolitan Policing District, were recorded at the Catholic Martyrs sites.

The majority of the missing children, according to Kushemererwa, attended the ceremony with their grandparents. There have also been instances where women have abandoned their infants for a number of hours before coming back to them. Nine months old was one of the babies who had been left behind; the mother had returned at 11 p.m.

The Police, Red Cross, and other daycare groups collectively noted 58 instances of children going missing. 16 youngsters were remained unclaimed by their parents at the end of the mass at the Catholic shrines. At least four adults, in addition to the children, were reported missing by their families.

“Compared to previous year, this year we have heard about a lot more cases of missing children. We had a total of 52 cases last year, but this year we had 58. “We kept the kids overnight and gave them blankets,” Kushemererwa said. While authorities waited for their parents or other relatives to come forward, the unclaimed children were detained at the shrines overnight.

140 people were detained for stealing from pilgrims, according to a different report from Patrick Onyango, a spokesperson for the Kampala Metropolitan police. The Kira Division Police took them into custody. Overt police squads conducted the arrests after catching people stealing from sleeping pilgrims, especially at night.

While victims were waiting in lines, some theft attempts took place, but they were stopped by the overt teams. “The pilgrims reported 107 incidents in total, which we recorded. At the Catholic location, 62 phone thefts occurred. “One case involved impersonation and drug dealing, and 35 other cases involved general theft,” Onyango said.

Positively, the police marine force properly regulated the crowds at the Anglican shrines, which had less theft charges than the Catholic shrines, in contrast to the previous year when water collection caused chaotic circumstances.