There is a growing tendency by criminal elements and criminal minded members of the public to personate members of the security agencies for ill motives.
The most affected security institutions of government are the UPDF, ISO and UPF. However, the vice has not spared other MDAs (Ministries, departments, and agencies).
The motive behind this criminal behaviour is to mislead and dupe unsuspecting members of the public into entering regrettable investment decisions and ventures, defrauding them of hard earned resources and property. They also extort, manipulate, and torture their victims with all manner of threats.
Joint operations and investigations conducted over the past year show that 18 cases were handled between May 2025 and Apr 2026, a majority of which have been concluded and forwarded to courts of law for further management.
The category of cases forwarded to courts of law may not be over-emphasized due to the rule of sub-judice which prohibits discussing the merits and demerits of a case before court.
Some of the targeted groups by the criminal elements include foreigners with business interests in the country, including multinational FDIs. However, Uganda business entities and individuals at all levels of society have not been spared either.
We, therefore, urge members of the unsuspecting public to take extra caution and conduct due-diligence while running their day to day business. Any suspected criminal behaviour should be reported to the nearest Police or UPDF authority for timely and appropriate intervention.
