By Executive Editor
Two workers of a laboratory in Kampala are in the custody of the police after they were found with human organs.
The suspects are:
Swaibu Kiyemba, 30, a laboratory technician attached to Lancet Laboratory in Nakasero, Kampala, and Grace Talikuza, 32, a client relations officer attached to the same laboratory. The third suspect has been identified as Bernard Okello, 29, a security guard attached to SCA.
A police statement from Greater Masaka indicates that it is alleged that on 8th/12/2024, at around 1940, around Kijjabwemi Trading Centre, Kimanya-Kabonera division in Masaka City, Okello hit a hump, and the box he was carrying on the motorcycle fell in the middle of the road. In the process, an unknown motor vehicle rammed into it, and it burst, hence bloody-like fluid, and flesh meat splashed into the road, attracting the public that later reported to the police.
“Information that is coming out from the staff of Lancet Laboratories is that these were samples picked from their clients admitted from two hospitals of Kitovu and Villa Maria, which our detectives are yet to find out. These samples were in the process of being taken to Nakasero Lancet laboratories for examination,” reads the statement.
The three suspects are in custody pending investigation Vide GEF 098/2024 of CPS, Masaka.
In 2023, President Yoweri Museveni approved a law to stop the stealing of human organs and tissues.
The donation and transplant law, the first of its kind in Uganda, prohibits any commercial dealings in human organs and tissues. Punishments include life imprisonment and stiff fines.
