Police have confirmed the arrest of a suspect identified as Collins Mugabe for allegedly making an Improvised Explosive Device(IED) that later accidentally exploded in his house located in Banda a Kampala suburb.
This has been confirmed by the Police spokesperson Fred Enanga saying their team swung into action after they were alerted by locals.
”Our teams were alerted by locals after one of the IEDs that Mugabe had manufactured went off when he mistakenly tampered with it,” Fred Enanga told journalists on Monday.
According to Enanga, locals alerted police when an explosion went off after 9 pm and security cordoned off the home where a thorough search was carried out leading to the recovery of another homemade bomb and other bomb-making materials.
“We are interrogating him to establish his link to any of the terror groups and any potential targets on Ugandans. This incident further shows our resolve as security to deal with any form of terrorism towards our country”, Enanga added
Enanga further noted that their team discovered other materials including jerricans of nitric acid, methanol, ethanol, potassium nitrate, several wires, notes, and textbooks on bomb-making.
He commended the locals for alerting security in time following the explosion but noted this incident serves as a reminder of the need t be vigilant by everyone.
The incident comes weeks after UK High Commission issued a terror alert to its citizens of a possible terror attack on Uganda.
Although the alert did not disclose the places being targeted and when the attacks would happen but warned citizens against places frequented by foreigners and any public places.
Ugandan security including the Police Crime Intelligence Directorate and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence have in the past two or so years since the twin blasts in Kampala at CPS and Parliamentary Avenue in November 2021 targeted sleeper cells by the Allied Democratic Forces(ADF) group which was recently designated as a terrorist outfit by the US.
Several suspected ADF members and agents have either been killed or arrested whereas several guns have been recovered and the cells busted.
