Soldier accused of impersonation immigration officer for five years arrested

 After years of allegedly successfully impersonating an immigration of officer, luck has run out for Charles Asiimwe, 45.

Asiimwe has allegedly also been posing as a senior Uganda People’s Defence Officer (UPDF) officer at the rank of Major to lure his unsuspecting victims.

The suspect, who is purportedly a Captain in the army, was detained last week at the internal affairs ministry headquarters while wearing an immigration uniform and presenting a Pakistani passport in order to renew his visitor's visa.

At the weekly joint security briefing held at the Police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala, on Monday, the ministry's public relations officer, Simon Mundeyi, informed journalists that the suspect was extorting money from foreigners who were living and working in the nation while posing as a Major and an immigration officer.

Eluding arrest

“This gentleman is a UPDF captain in the name of Capt. Charles Asiimwe, but has been masquerading as an immigration officer, impersonating two of our officers. He was also masquerading as a UPDF Major, by putting on peeps of the rank of Major,” Mundeyi said.

He added that the suspect has been on their radar for about five years following complaints registered over time by investors some of whom even had CCTV footage of him.

“The suspect has been eluding arrest. Each time we try to arrest him, he has been fleeing,” he said.

It is alleged that at the time of the arrest, he had already collected over shillings 100 million from people, especially foreign nationals.

According to information gathered, Mundeyi said, the suspect, in one his operations, began in a Mukono supermarket and obtained shillings four million from one of the foreign workers there, moved on to a Wangedeya-based pharmacy in Kampala and obtained shillings five million from the foreign workers there and later obtained shillings four million from Luwum Street in Kampala all in the same day.

“So, you can see in only one of his operations he did collect shillings 13 million. This gentleman has been notorious for five years. We have captured him on CCTV variously, we have tried to apprehend him, but has been very elusive,” he added.

Multiple identities

According to Mundeyi, last week, the suspect went to the immigration offices with the passport of a Pakistani national who was not there in order to renew a visitor's pass for the passport’s owner, when they detained him.

“So, when we sighted him, of course looking at the footage, we did arrest him at the immigration headquarters. When we searched his car, we recovered various identity cards one for the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and [he] has been posing as a UNBS staff and collecting money,” he added.

The suspect was also allegedly found with another ID belonging to one of the immigration officers in the name of Alex Ahimbisibwe, another ID in the name of Henry Muhikire also an officer working with immigration at the Malaba border point, and another ID of the UPDF showing his real name and identity as Capt Charles Asiimwe.

At the time of the arrest, Mundeyi said the suspect was also wearing an immigration uniform.

He said that they had found that the suspect kept the outfit in the trunk of his car and would don it whenever he saw someone he wanted to extort money from.

Since he is a serving military officer, Mundeyi said when investigations progress, they will hand him over to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) for further management.