KAMPALA. A senior police officer is in tears after a conman disguising as a witchdoctor fleeced him of Shs70m in a witchcraft scheme.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Frank Liga, who is the Officer in Charge (OC) of Nakasero Police Post lost his money to fraudsters two weeks ago and has since been hunting the suspects but without success.
Mr Liga was reportedly hoodwinked by three youths who claimed they had received an apparition vision that he would be fired from his job soon. They advised him to meet a witchdoctor who would give him some medicine to preserve his job.
“The boys were smart. They got information that he had struck a deal and got money. They approached him with stories about his job.
They told him he was going to lose the job and he needed to see a witchdoctor to protect his job. They even led him to the witchdoctor who conned him Shs70m,” a source said.
In a telephone interview with this reporter, ASP Liga confirmed he had lost the money to conmen but said he would prefer it remained a secret.
“I lost a lot of money and I wouldn’t want to lose the respect I have in society. Writing that story would embarrass my family and in-laws. Leave that story,” ASP Liga said.
Sources said the distraught officer filed a fraud case at Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) against five people who were reportedly involved in the rip-off. Police are yet to arrest the suspects but they have established their identity.
An army captain was last year conned Shs1.5m by a witchdoctor in Jinja District whom he had approached to get herbal medicine that could bring his estranged wife back home. Police arrested the witchdoctor after the soldier filed the case.
In April this year, police arrested a man who allegedly obtained money from police officers to help them get promotions and lucrative deployments on pretence that he was a son of the Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth Ochola.
The suspect Patrick Oloka, a resident of Kisugu, a Kampala suburb, was arrested after several officers confessed to have fallen victims to his tricks.
The IGP Ochola disowned Oloka and CID spokesman, Mr Vicent Ssekate, said more than eight police officers had been conned of their money by the same suspect.
Daily Monitor
