How Police cracked four-month complex puzzle in murder of Chinese businessman

In yet another investor murder, a Chinese businessman was killed by a compatriot in wrangles over businesses and the body buried in Mabira Forest

Police were this week able to crack a puzzle that had taken them four months. It is the murder of a Chinese businessman by a compatriot in Kampala.

This was after Ugandan detectives, together with their Chinese counterparts finally recovered the remains Yang Wenli, a Chinese businessman who had been killed in July.

The mysterious murder

Sources privy to the matter say that on July 7, Yang Wenli who operated business at Haidah Plaza along Ben Kiwanuka Street in Kampala, was murdered by a fellow Chinese businessman Yang Tiangang in what has been described as a complex murder.

The murder was allegedly assisted by Dai Jie, an employee for Wenli.

It is said that on the fateful day in the evening, Tiangang, the key suspect in the murder went to Wenli’s shop along Ben Kiwanuka Street and demanded for his money and in the ensuing argument, they fought.

Another line of investigation shows that Wenli and Tiangang had a business wrangle that escalated on the fateful day.

Wenli was killed, body cut into pieces and stuffed into a sack.

Shift business

The following day, Tiangang together with the Dai Jie( deceased’s employee) ran to Kabalagala Police Station which is about 4 kilometres away and told police officers that his life was in danger and wanted protection.

“He told officers his life was in danger because of the so many enemies and wanted to shift his business to Wandegeya. When police officers got to know that the businessman wanted to shift from Ben Kiwanuka Street which falls under CPS jurisdiction, they asked the Chinese to call CPS for assistance. The Chinese refused,” a source privy to the matter told the Nile Post.

It is said the Chinese said police officers at CPS were among their enemies who were after them and therefore couldn’t trust them.

Consequently, officers from Kabalagala Police accepted to proceed to Ben Kiwanuka Street and helped the Chinese shift his purported business to Wandegeya.

However, unknown to officers, left behind was a sack that contained remains of a body that had been chopped into pieces.

Wenli’s body was later at night driven and buried in Mabira Forest by Tiangang and Dai Jie.

The arrest

Following a month without communication, the deceased’s relatives raised concern and got in touch with the Chinese Embassy which also failed to locate Wenli.

Consequently, the embassy contacted Police for assistance in looking for Wenli.

At Police, officials from the Chinese Embassy were asked to identify the person whom the missing person was staying with, if any.

Consequently, the embassy officials mentioned Dai Jie’s name and on being summoned, he appeared before Police at the Central Police Station.

“When interviewed, Dai Jie said he didn’t know where his boss was and police asked that he is detained to allow more interrogation. The Chinese embassy was reluctant but Police stood their ground on not allowing Jie leave. This bore fruit,” the source told this website.

Meanwhile, after another round of interrogation, Jie spilled the beans of how he had helped Tiangang in killing the missing businessman and bury the body in Mabira.

However, in his story, Jie refused to tell investigators the exact reason behind the murder of Wenli and his role.

Questions still lingered on whether Jie had conspired with Tiangang - who was now on the run - to murder his boss.

Investigators also wanted to know whether Tiangang paid money to Jie or threatened him or the family to ensure he keeps quiet about the murder.

They based these questions on the failure by Jie to report the matter to police yet he had opportunity to do so.

Consequently, Jie was charged over the death of Wenli.

Prosecution told Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court that on July 7, 2024 at Haidah Plaza Ben Kiwanuka Street in Kampala District, with malice aforethought, Dai Jie caused the death of Yang Wen li.

Dai was consequently remanded to Luzira.

Complexity continues

Meanwhile, Tiangang - who had fled the country - was arrested from China but despite the arrest of the two suspects in the murder of the Chinese businessman, the case couldn’t stand since the deceased’s body was nowhere to be seen.

For the murder or manslaughter case to stand, there must be proof that someone actually died.

To this, there must be a postmortem to show who died and what killed them.

However, the body of Yang Wenli was nowhere to be seen.

Before arraigning Dai to court and the consequent remand to Luzira, police had spent two weeks frequenting Kakira and Lugazi sugarcane plantations to look for the deceased Chinese businessman’s body.

This was after Dai told them the body had been buried there.

“The man kept telling police the body had been buried in a “tree sugar” to mean sugarcane plantation. The police spent two weeks looking for the exact place where the said body was buried but all in vain,” the source added.

Enter Chinese Police

Having realised the case was not headed anywhere, relatives to the deceased Chinese businessman asked their embassy in Kampala for assistance in the investigations and recovery of the body.

Consequently, the embassy sought assistance from Chinese Police which sent in detectives to Kampala.

These tapping into Tiangang's phone while in China used Google Maps and GPS coordinates to locate the place where the body had been buried.

These were used to show how the suspects had moved from Kampala to Mabira Forest where they had buried the body.

However, the coordinates led the detectives from both China and Uganda to a place in the forest where the vehicle in which the body was ferried stopped.

Despite visiting the forest more than twice, they failed to locate the exact place where the deceased’s body had been buried.

Breakthrough

As fate would have it, locals near Mabira had seen police frequent the area and sought to know the reason behind the move, so they could be of help.

One of the locals would later divulge to police that he would help them recover the body on condition that he is paid.

Both the Chinese and Ugandan detectives accepted the offer.

This week, police received a call from a man who had promised to help them locate the body. He asked they come with his reward and he shows them the place.

“After being given his money, the man led the detectives from China and Uganda to a place, 1.5 kilometres away from where GPS coordinates and Google Maps had shown them as the burial place. He told them he had four months back seen a freshly dug pit where he suspected to have been buried something,” the source told the Nile Post.

On digging up the place, the remains of the Chinese were recovered stuffed in a sack.

Contacted for a comment on the matter, Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango confirmed the body of the deceased Chinese businessman had been recovered but didn’t divulge more information on the matter.

"The body has been taken to the City Mortuary in Mulago for postmortem," Onyango told the Nile Post.

This website has separately learnt that there is currently an impasse on how to proceed with the case since the two suspects are in different jurisdictions.

One suggestion is to have the key suspect who was arrested from China extradited to Uganda to face murder charges.

However, another suggestion is for the suspect on remand in Luzira to be extradited to China to face trial from that side.