Ugandan police say they have arrested a 17-year-old student on charges of trafficking 170 young people.
The police said that they arrested the high school student on 18 September in central Uganda.
Police say that the student kept 170 young people at the home of a 28-year-old woman while they awaited transportation to Kenya's capital, Nairobi, where the student had promised them jobs.
However, the Uganda Police Force said on Tuesday that the trafficking scheme was a scam.
“Upon interrogation he [the student] admitted that he wanted to extort money from the victims using the name of Humble Company in Kenya as a cover-up. There was no connection with the company and the job advert for waiters, waitresses, coffee parkers and supermarket attendants in Kenya was fake,” the Uganda Police Force said in a statement.
Uganda’s privately-owned Daily Monitor newspaper reports that 98 of the victims paid the student 100,000 Ugandan shillings ($26; £21) each while the others each paid 50,000 shillings.
The student has not yet been asked to plead.
Latest Stories
-
CLOGSAG vows to resist partisan appointments in Civil, Local Government Service
45 minutes -
Peasant Farmers Association welcomes Mahama’s move to rename Agric Ministry
47 minutes -
NDC grateful to chiefs, people of Bono Region -Asiedu Nketia
49 minutes -
Ban on smoking in public: FDA engages food service establishments on compliance
50 minutes -
Mahama’s administration to consider opening Ghana’s Mission in Budapest
52 minutes -
GEPA commits to building robust systems that empower MSMEs
54 minutes -
Twifo Atti-Morkwa poultry farmers in distress due to high cost of feed
57 minutes -
Central Region PURC assures residents of constant water, power supply during yuletide
58 minutes -
Election victory not licence to misbehave – Police to youth
59 minutes -
GPL 2024/2025: Nations thrash struggling Legon Cities
1 hour -
Electoral offences have no expiry date, accountability is inevitable – Fifi Kwetey
1 hour -
Ghanaians to enjoy reliable electricity this Christmas – ECG promises
1 hour -
Police deny reports of election-related violence in Nsawam Adoagyiri
1 hour -
‘We’re not brothers; we’ll show you where power lies’ – Dafeamekpor to Afenyo-Markin
1 hour -
EPA says lead-based paints are dangerous to health, calls for safer alternatives
3 hours