Police in eastern Uganda’s Busia District Saturday confirmed they had rescued an eight-year-old girl from two knife-wielding men who had reportedly kidnapped her from Kampala to sacrifice her.

The eight-year-old was rescued from Mirembe Guest House in Kisenyi village, Busia Town where two unidentified men and someone disguised as her uncle in the name of Kifefe cunningly convinced her to go with them as the parents had gone to the garden.

“The suspects had taken me away from home while my parents were in the garden, saying they were going to buy me eats from the shop,” the girl, who only remembers her late mother as Mwajuma, told police officers on Saturday afternoon.

Nixon Wandera, the manager of the guest house, said the unidentified men came to book a room with the child at about 8 pm on Friday but did not have any identification.

“When I asked them for their identification, they took the child to the room and moved out to bring the documents; but shortly after, the victim started crying while calling out for help, saying she did not know the men,” M Wandera, the guest house manager said.

Out of suspicion, Wandera says he asked his colleague, identified as Dennis Tibanja, to take care of the facility and the child, and he ran to Busia Police Station to report the matter.

But Tibanja revealed that one of the men returned to the room and, out of panic, picked up his bag and attempted to leave which prompted them to alert police and the girl was rescued.

“I tried to lock the suspect inside the room, but he pulled out a sharp knife from his bag and attempted to stab me; I fell behind the door and he escaped,” Tibanja narrates.

Mr Moses Mugwe, the police spokesperson for Bukedi South Region confirmed the report in a Saturday statement saying; “Someone in the name of “Uncle Kifefe” took advantage of the absence of the parents and convinced the victim that he was going to buy her something to eat from a nearby shop.”

“Kifefe seems to be known to the victim’s family and appears to have taken this girl with intentions of sacrificing her,” Mr Mugwe added.