Charles Etukuri, who in the past fell out with his managers at Vision Group over allegations of spying on colleagues for Police and other security agencies, is said to have been picked up outside Vision Group offices in Industrial Area by men in military uniform.
A routine assignment it was for Charles Etukuri. Saturday Vision published the article on February 10 under the lead headline: ‘Investor dies in city hotel, ISO men implicated.’ Etukuri had done his work as usual. But unknown to him, it was just the begin of things.
Men in military uniform picked Etukuri outside Vision Group headquarters on First Street, Industrial Area, on Tuesday afternoon. It is suspected the military picked the crime reporter over the said story. And The New Vision newspaper appears to suspect as much.
“Security operatives abduct Vision Group journalist Charles Etukuri, from New Vision head office. He was picked by operatives dressed in military fatigue. It is suspected that the abduction is related to stories that he had done recently,” the daily said on its social media page.
UPDATE
Security operatives abduct Vision Group journalist @EtukuriCharles from New Vision head offices.He was picked by operatives dressed in military fatigue. It is suspected that the abduction is related to stories that he had done recently. pic.twitter.com/R4ssNR89cJ
— The New Vision (@newvisionwire) February 13, 2018
In the Saturday report by Etukuri, Vision said Police was investigating circumstances under which a Finnish tycoon, Tuomas Terasvuori Juha Patteri had died at a city hotel last week.
Quoting Suvi Linden, who travelled with the deceased, Etukuri indicated that while security agencies said Patteri had died from drugs-related issues, there was more than meets the eye.
The report indicated that Patteri had died a day after he was arrested on arrival at Entebbe by officers of Internal Security Organisation (ISO) led by the Director of Operations Joel Agaba.
The report also opened the lead for a possible motive, indicating that a number of ISO operatives had been implicated in “forgeries that led to the arrest of the tycoon,”
“At the centre of it all is an ISO officer identified as Apollo Kyabagye, attached to ISO Economic Unit, who Saturday Vision has learnt was approached by a one Carol Alinda to provide escort services to the tycoon,” the report said.
Placing ISO operatives at the centre of the mystery death of Petteri will not come as a surprise to many Ugandans as security operatives, including high ranking police officers, have time and again been arrested while extorting from civilians.
In September last year, the Flying Squad Unit of the Police rescued a man who had been kidnapped by men led by a police superintendent, who threatened to kill him unless he paid a ransom of $100,000 (about Shs360 million).
Gerald Yashaba, a resident of Bukasa, a Kampala City suburb, had been kidnapped by police officers led by ASP Edward Edyegu.
Charles Etukuri is a seasoned investigative journalist and crime reporter with nearly two decades of experience. He probably knows more security operatives than even security operatives themselves can brag about.
In 2007 during the Buganda Riots, Etukuri found himself at the centre of storm when he was accused of leaking newsroom information security operatives. He fell out with Vision but would return later after then Sunday Vision editor David Mukholi convinced the editorial managers to forget the past and work with the journalist again.
For his close ties with security agencies, it was expected that Etukuri would be in the thick of things and would probably have done better than be abducted following a decoy call.
The men in uniform spent a good part oft he day hovering outside Vision Group offices with sources indicating some had been sighted as early as 10am.
Meanwhile, Etukuri’s phone was incessantly ringing. Around lunch hour, he left his phone at his desk and stepped outside the newsroom and on return, he returned one of the many missed calls.
The person on the other end of the line must have asked him for lunch as Etukuri indicated he was going to Lugogo for lunch. As he accessed his car, the waiting soldiers pounced on him and bundled him on a waiting double carbin pick-up.
Etukuri had earlier intimated to colleagues that he had been receiving threats from security operatives who accused him of “being used by [IGP Kale] Kayihura’s operatives to plant stories.”
Although he is just a journalist and not an associate of the IGP, a recent flexing of muscles in the security circles has seen a number of operatives and men in uniform sought to be close allies of Gen Kayihura arrested mainly by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.
Neither the military, nor Police were yet to speak out on the abduction of Etukuri by press time, but this news website will update this story as and when more developments come in.
