A 20-year-old casual labourer has kidnapped a 10-year-old pupil in Kisoro district and is demanding a UGX 8 million ransom.

John Mary Irankunda, a pupil at Nshungwe Primary School and resident of Kanyacucu village, Busengo parish Nyarubuye sub-county, was kidnapped by a Congolese national only identified as Hakiza on October 22, 2023.

Hakiza had worked at Iramkumda’s home as a casual labourer for about a month.

However, on October 22, 2023, he disappeared with the victim. The boy’s father Moses Ninzeyimana, a teacher says that efforts to search the victim and Hakiza hit a dead end forcing him to file a case of a missing person at Busanza Police Post.

Ninzeyimana says that he was shocked on Sunday when Hakiza used the same mobile phone he had stolen from their home to call Irankunda’s relatives to send shillings 8 million ransom in order to have him released.

Elly Maate, Police Spokesperson for Kigezi region said that the matter is being handled by Kisoro Police Station. He said that the process of obtaining call data of the telephone numbers the suspect is currently using is underway.

This is not the first time the police have registered cases of people being kidnapped for ransom.

On July 20, 2019, Akim Niwagaba and Ramadhan Ayinamani, both minors and residents of Seth Bahati and Joselyn Ampeire, from Kyabuyorwa upper village in Kanungu district were kidnapped from their rice garden in Bugarama village in DRC.

The children were chasing birds from the rice field when two men donning replicas of the military camouflage uniform armed with AK 47 rifles emerged from the nearby bush and held them at gunpoint. They were released after their parents paid 2 million Shillings in ransom.

In January 2019, Isaiah Mbeeta, a resident of Munyaga village in the Western ward of Kanungu district was kidnapped from his garden in DRC, a few Kilometers from Butogota border.

He was released after his family paid a ransom of 1.5 million Shillings. In April 2019, Ronald Niwamanya and Dan Tweheyo, both residents of Nyabirehe village in Kanungu district were kidnapped by gunmen from their banana plantation in DRC.  They were released after their parents paid the ransom of 3.5 million Shillings to kidnappers.

In April 2019, gunmen kidnapped American tourist, Kimberley Sue Endicott and her Ugandan tour guide, Jean-Paul Mirenge inside Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kanungu district before crossing to DRC.  The gunmen released their victims after reportedly receiving a negotiated sum of USD 30,000 (about 112 million Shillings).

In August 2018, gunmen kidnapped Robert Mugabe, a resident of Busoni village in Kituba parish in Nakasongola district while transporting fish together with three other traders to DRC from Kasese district. The victims were intercepted in Queen Elizabeth National Park near the Southern Gate Army Barracks in Kanungu district. He was released after his family paid a ransom of USD 7,500 (about 27.6 million Shillings).