KIKUUBE– Security operatives in the Albertine region days ago arrested and deported 35 Congolese fishermen who were arrested on Lake Albert in Kikuube district while engaging in illegal fishing activities.
The Congolese fishermen were carrying out fishing activities near Sebigoro landing site in the Kikuube district.
The Congolese had been detained at Sebigoro landing site police post on charges of illegal entry into Uganda and using illegal fishing gear, fishing nets, and boats.
Police said the nets belonging to the Congolese were destroyed by the Uganda People’s DefenCe Forces [UPDF] Fisheries Protection Unit [FPU].
Major Richard Mafabi, the sector commander who oversees the FPU operations on Lake Albert said they arrested the Congolese fishermen on Thursday as they were fishing illegally. The fishermen were from the landing sites of Kasenyi and Tchomia in the Ituri province in Eastern DRC.
Amlan Tumusiime, the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner [RDC] said security is heightened along the Uganda – DRC border to ensure that no Congolese fishermen cross to conduct fishing in Ugandan waters.
In April 2021, suspected militiamen were gunned down by UPDF soldiers on the Lake Albert waters near Kaiso landing site in Hoima district.
The two, Opio Ozelle and Singa Kowe were killed in a fire exchange with UPDF soldiers on April 9, 2020, after they were found robbing Ugandan fishermen.
The two were among other Congolese militiamen who had put several Ugandan fishermen at gunpoint, ordering them to surrender their fishing gear including boats, fishing nets, engines, and hooks among others.
The bodies of the two killed Congolese nationals were handed over to the DRC government on May 28, 2021.
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