Police have opened up on the arrest and extradition of Patrick Kasaija also known as Pato, the key suspect in the kidnap and subsequent murder of Susan Magara.
Pato was on Wednesday evening extradited from South Africa where he has been hiding.
In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, police defended their actions to ask their counterparts in South Africa to arrest and extradite him back to Uganda noting that it is highly suspected he was behind the voice on the phone that negotiated the one million dollar ransom demanded for by the kidnappers.
“In addition, his conduct towards the end of the ordeal was very suspicious, when on the February, 13, 2018, he applied for a Visa to South Africa, with a flight plan for February 16, 2018, 2018,” police spokesperson, Fred Enanga said in the statement.
“Instead he left Entebbe International Airport, on the February, 17 2018, for Harare through Nairobi, where he however, stopped, falsely declared to immigration officials, how he was returning to Uganda, from, Accra, Ghana.”
According to police, Pato then miraculously returned to Uganda on the same day and coincidentally, travelled by road on February, 24 2018, through Botswana to South Africa, the same date the advance ransom payment was delivered.
“The suspect possessed two Passports; Number B0661869 that was valid until 3/03/2018, in the names of Agaba Patrick, and Number B1177225, which is valid till 19/01/2025 in the names of Kasaija Patrick.”
“He suspect is still presumed innocent until proven beyond reasonable doubt. His case file is being processed for the attention of the DPP, who upon perusal will determine whether to jointly charge the suspect with the eight others on remand or not,”Enanga noted.
Magara, 28, who was working as the administrator for the family businesses as well as a cashier for Bwendo Dairy Farm in Hoima was kidnapped in Mengo as she left work to drive home in Lungujja on February 7, 2019.
She was held captive for three weeks, before being killed and the killers dumped her body in Kitiko Village between Kajjansi and Kigo along the Entebbe Express highway despite being given the shs700 million ransom that they had asked for from the family.
Her killers first cut off two of her fingers as they pushed the family to pay ransom money.
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