Police in Soroti has arrested a man who duped the public that he has cure for the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
According to ASP David Ongom Mudong, the East Kyoga spokesperson, Lazarus Kungu, 24 a self-proclaimed mobile herbalist and a resident of Angopet village, Amen parish, Soroti sub-county in Soroti district was arrested on Thursday at Soroti regional referral hospital.
“While at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital with and intent to extort money from patients, he gave false propaganda that he had discovered a local herb for curing COVID-19 by presenting a red liquid in a white container,”Mudong said.
The police spokesperson said that they were tipped and arrested the impostor who was found red-handed with bottles of the red liquid that he was selling to unsuspecting members of the public.
“We would like to thank the members of the public for the good level of vigilance exhibited but on the same note we would also like to warn the members of the public to distance themselves from using the current situation of COVID-19 to commit crimes,”Mudong said.
A number of people have been arrested for selling fake coronavirus cure in various parts of the country.
Last month, Police in Mayuge district arrested a father and daughter for selling fake drugs, which they claimed were vaccines for the coronavirus.
Kaire Saidi, a herbalist and his daughter Kaire Amina, both residents of Wante village, Imayiro sub-county in Mayuge district had prior to their arrest visited a number of families belonging the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, telling them they had discovered a vaccine for coronavirus.
Uganda has 45 confirmed cases of coronavirus but there has not been any vaccine or cure for the deadly pandemic in the world.
