Police say they used private number plates in arresting Bajjo for “security” reasons

Police has owned up to participating in the arrest of Andrew Mukasa, a Bobi Wine and his People Power movement promoter.

Security operatives on Saturday stormed City Bar located at Centenary Park before arresting Mukasa, the proprietor of Bajjo Events and Marketing Agency Limited who was addressing a joint press conference with Abbey Musinguzi of Abtex Promotions in which they were announcing a plan to hold a People Power Marathon.

The arrest raised a number of questions after the van used bore private number plates that were discovered to have been used by a Toyota Prado TX in which the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj.Gen Muzeeyi Sabiiti was being chauffeured while he appeared before Parliament’s appointments committee for vetting last year.

Responding to a question from journalists during the weekly press briefing on Monday, Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga said they used private number plates for security reasons.

“Such number plates are used for covert operations and therefore we used them in that operation where we could not use official government number plates for fear of detection by the suspect,”Enanga explained.

He admitted that the same number plate UAT 511C was used by the deputy IGP as he went for his vetting process at parliament last year but said Maj. Gen. Muzeeyi Sabiiti was not in any way involved in the latest operation.

“There is a scheme to drag the Deputy IGP’s name into the latest incident but he was not anywhere involved,”Enanga said.

In the arrest on Saturday, men donning uniforms similar to those of the Special Forces Command, the army unit that guards the President armed with guns forced Bajjo into a waiting white van.

The Special Forces Command spokesperson, Maj.Jimmy Omara denied reports that the unit had been involved in the operation to arrest the Bobi Wine and his People Power movement promoter.

However, the police spokesperson admitted that the men seen in blue uniforms are police officers attached to the army unit that guards the President.

“We have the Presidential Protection Guard unit deployed under the SFC and in it are officers from the Criminal Investigations Division who arrested Mukasa,”Enanga said.

He said they would soon send Bajjo’s file to the DPP for perusal and subsequent arraignment in courts of law over charges related to a video in which he threatened to oust President Museveni before the 2021 polls.