Six police officers arrested for extorting sh200,000 from Danish national over face mask

Six police officers attached to the emergency response unit have been arrested for allegedly extorting money from a Danish national for not wearing a face mask.

The officers have been identified as police constables; Gerald Asului, Aduma Kisitu, Phillip Olim, Obel Bonny, Jacks Ankunda, and constable driver Owele Isa.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga says the six officers extorted Shs 200,000 from a Danish national, Michael Barger who went and lodged a complaint at the offices of the Professional Standards Unit (PSU) in Bukoto-Kampala over the weekend prompting their arrest.

“When our team at the Professional Standards Unit registered this complaint, they took interest and went to the extent of retrieving the security closed circuit television (CCTV) footage from the point of alleged extortion, and these officers who were conducting the operation on police patrol vehicle Number UP4918 were well identified and arrested,” Enanga said.

Enanga explains that the six suspects are being held on charges of extortionist tendencies and professional misconduct actions that can’t be tolerated in the police force.

“These are outright cases of professional misconduct that we can longer tolerate,” Enanga said. “They claim that the man was moving without a mask everywhere. The man tried to plead with them that he was new in the country, but they went on to extort money from him before letting him go,” Enanga added.