Assistant Commissioner of police Jonathan Baroza has reportedly sneaked back into the country and handed himself to security authorities, sources say.
ACP Baroza a former powerful ADC of former embattled Inspector General of police Gen Kale Kayihura reportedly entered into the country last week through Entebbe International Airport and was reportedly picked by the waiting security operatives who whisked him to one of the safe houses in the outskirts of Kampala city for safe custody.
Security and intelligence authorities approached by this website for a comment were still tight lipped about the matter by press time.
Baroza has been wanted on several charges including having knowledge on the assassination of former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi and illegal repatriation of Rwandan refugees back to Rwanda including former Lt Joel Mutabazi the former body guard of Rwandan President Paul Kagame back to Rwanda.
Some of the illegally repatriated Rwandan refugees by police from Uganda to Rwanda were killed in Rwanda.
Sources said Baroza turned himself as a state witness to pin the suspects in custody and those still at large.
In 2018, Uganda police leadership declared Baroza, a deserter and froze payments to his bank account.
Gen Kale Kayihura had sent Baroza to Algeria where he worked as police liaison officer at Uganda’s mission assigned with monitoring, informing and implementing exchange programmes on African Police Cooperation Mechanism (Afripol) such as trainings, visits and others.
He was recalled back to the police headquarters in Kampala for redeployment but he disappeared while in transit to Kampala in Turkey, prompting police to issue a five-day ultimatum on July 17 2018 for him to report back without fail.
Baroza was to be arrested from Entebbe airport upon return. It was unclear if he got wound of this plan or he’d long planned to run into exile.
Baroza and other senior police officers including jailed SSP Nixon Agasirwe are also suspects in the aggravated robbery and murder of an Eritrean businessman. Deniel Weldo who was killed in cold blood in December 2016.
His killers then tried to steal two million euros (Shs 8bn) from his account operated in Stanbic bank.
The 32-year-old man had operated his business from South Sudan. He left that troubled country for Uganda after renewed armed conflict broke out between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former first Vice president Riek Machar.
Baroza had earlier been summoned to police headquarters early in 2018 where he was questioned, recorded a statement and was asked to return back to his duty station in Algeria.
Baroza is also being investigated by the inspectorate of government on how he was promoted from the rank of superintendent of police to assistant commissioner of police while working as Kayihura’s personal assistant.
He also gained prominence in the AIGP Kaweesi murder investigations when he was accused of scooping soil samples from the scene of crime yet he was not part of the forensics team.
He even had a public altercation with former AIGP Fred Yiga over the same day at the Kaweesi muder scene in Kulambiro, Kisasi.