KAKUMIRO, Uganda — Four individuals have been apprehended in Uganda’s Kakumiro district for allegedly submitting forged academic documents during an ongoing recruitment drive for the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF). The arrests were made on Wednesday following a verification process of the original documents presented by the applicants.
The four suspects, whose names have been withheld pending the conclusion of the investigation, were among 50 individuals shortlisted for the recruitment.
They are accused of presenting falsified credentials, including fake Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) slips, forged Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) certificates, counterfeit Senior Four testimonials, and fraudulent national identification cards.
Captain Wilson Kato Agaba, the public information officer for UPDF Recruitment Team 5 in the Bunyoro Region, issued a strong warning to those attempting to deceive the recruitment system. He stated that the screening team is highly professional and well-equipped to detect fraudulent documents.
“We have a professional and dedicated screening team that can easily detect forged academic documents,” Agaba said.
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The suspects have been handed over to local police for further investigation and are set to be prosecuted. Agaba also reported that the recruitment team managed to enlist only 366 of the 504 individuals targeted for recruitment from the Bunyoro sub-region.
This incident is not an isolated one. It follows a similar event last week in the Kagadi district, where 13 people—11 men and two women—were also arrested for presenting forged documents during the same recruitment exercise.
They were similarly found with fake PLE slips, forged UCE certificates, falsified testimonials, and counterfeit identification cards.