The suspects allegedly used deception, abuse of power, and fraud to recruit children below 18 years for purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, and use in armed conflict.
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The five people who have been committed to the High Court to face trial on terrorism and child trafficking charges.
Five terror suspects have been committed to the International Crimes Division of the High Court to stand trial on multiple charges, including aggravated trafficking in children and terrorism.
The suspects Twaha Kasaijja, Ismail Kisambu, Muhammed Nabanji, Sadat Nsubuga, and Twaha Mutebi, on Thursday appeared before the Buganda Road Court, presided over by Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi, who committed them to the International Crimes Division of the High Court for trial after the Director of Public Prosecutions found sufficient evidence to prosecute them.
According to the indictment signed by the Assistant DPP Lino Anguzu, the suspects will face trial on one count of belonging or professing to belong to a terrorist organization, one count of rendering support to a terrorist organization, and seven counts of aggravated trafficking in children. The charges were reportedly committed between 2010 and 2023.
The prosecution alleges that the suspects were involved in recruiting and transporting seven children to a celebrated terrorist organization, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) camps in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The suspects allegedly used deception, abuse of power, and fraud to recruit children under 18 years for purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, and use in armed conflict.
"All the accused persons, by fraud or abuse of power or deception or position of vulnerability, recruited or received or transported or transferred children below 18 years, for purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labour or forced child marriage or use of child in armed conflict or use of person in illegal activities," reads the indictment.
The prosecution will rely on evidence, including mobile phones, call data records, forensic reports, and witness testimony, to prove the charges against the suspects.
Investigations into the suspects' activities began in 2023, when police received intelligence information that several residents of Lower and Upper Konge Zone in Makindye Division, Kampala City, had sold their properties and disappeared. One such resident was Abdurahaman Ssemanda, who sold his butcher shop to Badiru Mwanje for 23 million shillings and ran away from the village.
The DPP indicates that the Police investigations led them to track down Twaha Kasaijja, who admitted to transporting ADF recruits and relief items from Kampala City to the Mpondwe border in Kasese District.
Further, the Prosecution indicates that Kasaijja's mobile phone records were analyzed, revealing his communication with other suspects, including Muhammad Nabanji.
Nabanji, during the police interview, reportedly confessed to taking three of his children, aged 6, 8, and 10, to ADF camps in DR Congo in 2011. One of the children was later rescued by the Red Cross Society and returned to Uganda, and some other children were rescued from Iganga District, while others haven't yet been returned.
All five accused persons have now gone back to Luzira prison until such time when the High Court will call them to start hearing their cases. Accused persons normally take longer on remand shortly after they have been committed to the High Court to face trial.
