Passengers arrested at Entebbe with fake COVID-19 certificates
Ugandan aviation police and the Entebbe airport health team arrested 23 travelers for forging COVID- 19 test results. Detained passengers include Ugandans and foreigners who are currently detained at Entebbe International Airport before they will be charged in court.
Announcing the arrests on local stations, Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said: “We have been receiving reports there are people who are forging COVID-19 certificates and traveling abroad which gives a bad image to government of Uganda.” He said that the 23 were intercepted as they were about to board a plane with forged certificates.
“We are charging them with forgery and altering forged documents,’ police spokesman said. He added that security teams are currently interrogating them to find out where they obtained forged certificates. Commenting on the arrest, Aviation Health Specialist Dr.James Eyul said that “tests are loaded into a central system by the Ministry of Health and we are able to log into a central system to cross check”.
He lamented that some people arriving in the country giving hard time to Ugandan officials, by claiming that they are government officials and diplomats and are not required to test for COVID-19 when traveling.
The Police spokesperson appealed to Ugandans to get the right certificates through the right channels, not back doors. He warned the public that if they attempt to get to the airport with forged COVID-19 certificates they would be immediately detected and arrested.
In September, Uganda became the third country after Jamaica and Kenya to receive endorsement by the Safer Tourism Seal experts after undergoing evaluation for adherence to health and safety. To date, Uganda registered 10455 COVID-19 cases, 6901 recoveries and 96 deaths.
