Bus owner quizzed on Kenyan terrorist

EMMA MUTAIZIBWA
Monday, June 04, 2012

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Police have questioned the proprietor of Kalita Bus Transporters, Patrick Lucky, after a man believed to be a high-profile terrorist entered Uganda aboard one of the company’s buses from Kenya.

The police director of counter-terrorism, John Ndugutse, confirmed to The Observer on Saturday that the head of CID, Grace Akullo, had interrogated Lucky on Friday. He, however, did not divulge details of what emerged from the questioning.

Lucky also told The Observer that he had appeared at the CID offices in Kibuli and was ready to cooperate with the authorities. He said the bus driver, whom he identified as Shafiq, is also ready to be questioned.

“Even today, he [Shafiq] was ready to meet the officers, but the one handling the case said he was out of office,” Lucky said.

Asked whether his driver and conductor could be complicit, Lucky, who returned from China on Wednesday, said, “I was not there, but if they did anything wrong, I would hand them over to the police.”
He, however, questioned the police’s approach to the investigation.

“Police should have first alerted us before going to the media. We have two security guards with guns who could have arrested the suspects,” he told The Observer. “We even have our own patrol car to monitor any insecurity; and there are numbers on the bus you can call in case of any emergency.”

Lucky says the conductor of the bus, a Kenyan of Somali origin, is missing.
“He was in Kenya when the announcement was made. He was given to us by Gateway Bus Services and we have a recommendation letter and his passport photograph,” Lucky said.

Security priority
Earlier on, Ndugutse said the Uganda Martyrs event at Namugongo yesterday was “a security priority”. However, the counter-terrorism chief added: “Other places will also be tightly monitored. We are on top of things.”

Police have circulated the photograph of Ahmed Khalid Mueller, the suspected terrorist believed to have entered Uganda. He is on the list of the most wanted terrorists in Kenya. Mueller is said to be a German Somali.

Elsewhere, a security source told The Observer that a young man of Somali descent was, on Friday evening, arrested near Panamera bar, adjacent to Kampala Parents School in Naguru. It is not clear yet whether the suspect is a high-profile target, but our source said that at the time of his arrest, he had a map with various locations in Kampala city, some contacts, and notes written in Arabic.

The Inspector General of Police, Lt Gen Kale Kayihura, revealed on Thursday that a high-profile terrorist had travelled from Kenya on a Kalita bus and sneaked into Uganda through the Busia border point. Kayihura believed the bus driver and conductor were in cahorts with the suspect.

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