Kampala Police are holding Fred Ssembatya, a special hire driver to help them in investigations of the kidnap and murder of two Chinese nationals at Makerere 2, Zone C in Kampala district.
According to the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, they are also looking for an unidentified Chinese gentleman who is suspected of masterminding the kidnap and killing of his fellow citizens.
According to Kayihura, the Chinese Embassy reported on Saturday that two females Ren-Ju, 33, working with Club 7 restaurant in Kololo as a waitress and Sang-Weng Wa, 34 also a waitress at Chinese Business Hotel in Bugolobi had gone missing.
“The police at Jinja road where the case had been reported contacted Flying Squad who mounted a hunt for the two missing persons,” said Gen Kayihura while visiting the crime scene on Wednesday.
“Today at 3:00am, their two bodies were found in a house in Makerere 2, Zone C and it seemed they had been stabbed to death.”
Police detectives on duty inside the fence of the house where the chinese women were murdered
Kidnapped, Killed
Detectives say the two were first kidnapped, killed and later dumped into a house in Makerere where their bodies were found.
The special hire driver who is in police custody is said to have been hired by an unknown Chinese man from Chez Johnson hotel in Nakulabye to Club 7 Restaurant in Kololo where they picked Ren-Ju and brought him to the said house.
The police believe that after dropping the Chinese lady and the unidentified gentleman, the special hire driver returned to his stage in Nakulabye.
The Chinese suspect is said to have rented the house in Makerere on Wednesday but had not yet started living in it.
“He paid one million shillings to the land lady as a deposit promising to return and stay in the house with colleagues who were yet to arrive in Uganda. He promised to come with house hold items to put in the house later. He didn’t identify himself,” said a detective.
It is also said the Chinese later asked one lady who used to occupy the boys quarters in the backyard of the fenced house in Makerere to give him space for a few days before she could return.
IGP Kayihura inside the fence of the house where the women were murdered.
“The gentleman told her he needed to do some private stuff and offered her some money so she could be away. The lady agreed to be away for some time,” said a detective.
The police also said they have started tracking the phone number that the Chinese suspect used to send a We Chat message asking for ransom to release the suspects.
The police boss said they have clues that could lead them to the arrest of the suspects in the murder, explaining they have got in touch with the Chinese embassy to help them in the investigations.
“This was a mafia like murder and a first of its kind that we have involved the Chinese police to help trace the suspects,” said Gen Kayihura.
He said the clues indicate the deceased could have been targeted and followed right from China to Uganda before being cornered and killed.
Kayihura however warned that the concept of neighborhood watch ought to be activated in the county to help fight such crimes.
“If neighbors were vigilant, such a thing would not have happened. They should have seen something suspicious and reported to authorities.”
He said the Chinese ladies could have been killed between Saturday and Monday because the bodies had started to decompose by the time they were recovered on Wednesday morning in the fenced house that neither had a bed or chair.
According to the locals, the fenced house used to be a church explaining that they had no information of Chinese renting it.
“All along we thought was that it was a church. We always saw people entering and exiting the house before this incident,” said Robert Nsumba, the area Vice Chairperson.