KAMPALA. Immigration officials have arrested Desire Luzinda, a renowned artiste, and handed her over to the police Special Investigations Unit on charges of obtaining money by false pretence and helping her former Nigerian boyfriend to illegally obtain a Ugandan passport.
Desire was arrested at Entebbe International Airport on Saturday morning as she arrived from Congo-Brazzaville for a concert.
Police spokesman, Mr Fred Enanga, confirmed her arrest and added that Desire was recording double statements with SID officials.
“We summoned her several times to record statements with us but she declined, so we informed the Immigration officials that if they find her moving out or in the country, she should be arrested which they did,” Mr Enanga said.
Police say Desire received Shs24m from a lecturer at Cavendish University claiming she was to use it for a concert at Serena Hotel and would refund it. But when she was given the money, she disappeared which prompted the lecturer to report a criminal case of obtaining money by false pretence at police.
Mr Enanga said she was summoned to record a statement to give her side of the story but she declined.
In another case, police contend that Desire helped her former boyfriend Franklin Emuobor, a Nigerian national, to obtain a Uganda passport in the name of Franklin Baguma.
“Our officers went through the documents upon which her ex-boyfriend got a Ugandan passport using fake names and they found out that Desire could have had a hand. They are recording a statement on that issue,” Mr Enanga said.
Mr Emuobor is said to be out of the country but police are processing documents to arrest him using Interpol on separate fraud cases.
By press time, Desire was still under interrogation by detectives but police couldn’t state whether she would be released on police bond.
Last week, police warned another socialite Zarinah Ntale popularly known as Zari after she jumped police bond over pornography charges relating to her sex tapes, which were circulated on social media prompting the police to summon her. When she left for South Africa, she never reported back to police
abagala@ug.nationmedia.com
