Verify land before purchasing, police warns public
Police have asked members of the public to always first verify land before purchasing it to avoid falling prey to fraudsters.
According to Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire, many people have fallen prey to conmen in the name of selling or buying land.
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“In one of those incidents, Police at Jinja road is investigating an incident of obtaining money by false pretence after one Alice Nayebare got in talks with one Francis Kimbowa to purchase land in Mubende measuring 100 acres and each acre was sold at shs3.5 million. She paid shs350 million and upon finishing all payments, she went to the ground to check , only to find 25 of the 100 acres were not there and half of 75 remaining was having squatters and had been rented out to other people,” Owoyesigyire said.
He noted that Nayebare found out that he had literally been sold hot air and efforts to recover the money from Kimbowa were futile, prompting him to report the matter to police.
He said the suspect, Francis Kimbowa was summoned to police and he made a statement and later released whereas the file is set to be taken to the Resident State Attorney for advice but urged members of the public to always be vigilant before purchasing anything.
“Whenever you want to purchase land, make sure to do due diligence at the relevant offices and on ground to ascertain whether the land you are buying has squatters or not. You need to ascertain whether the land was sold off and its title is in the hands of the person selling it to you.”
Of late, many members of the public are crying foul for losing huge sums of money to fraudsters and conmen in the name of selling them land.
Many have paid millions of money to buy non-existent land, only to lose out.
