In what is turning out to be one of the largest coordinated law enforcement operations against transnational organized crime in Uganda’s history, joint security agencies have arrested more than 700 foreign nationals in Wakiso District.
The suspects, the vast majority of whom are Chinese nationals, were picked up during a sophisticated, intelligence-led raid targeting two premier lakeside resorts over their alleged involvement in a massive cyber-enabled fraud network, illegal call center activities, and severe immigration breaches.
The synchronized sweep, which kicked off under the direct command of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) with tactical support from elite internal security wings, centered entirely on the quiet suburbs of Garuga, located within Katabi Town Council.
Security forces surrounded and cordoned off Katomi Country Resort and the neighboring Garuga Country Resort, catching the occupants completely off guard. Notably, Katomi Country Resort is a high-profile hospitality facility owned by Uganda’s former Vice President, Professor Gilbert Balibaseka Bukenya.
Intelligence sources close to the investigation revealed that the massive contingent of foreign nationals had covertly rented out the entirety of both lakeside facilities, operating out of them for more than three months before their activities triggered red flags within Uganda’s cyber-intelligence networks.
During the meticulous search of the two resort premises, detectives uncovered highly sophisticated digital setups that resembled industrial-scale illegal call centers. Preliminary forensic mappings suggest that these bases were being utilized to launch cross-border online scams, financial phishing expeditions, and digital extortion rackets targeting unsuspecting victims both locally within Uganda and internationally across various continents.
Law enforcement teams seized a massive cache of electronic infrastructure from the rooms and conference halls of the resorts. The confiscated items include hundreds of high-end desktop computers, laptops, centralized network servers, industrial digital storage drives, active internet routers, and thousands of mobile smartphones.
All electronic exhibits have since been hauled to the CID headquarters for comprehensive forensic imaging and data analysis by cyber-security experts. Analysts are working to determine the precise nature of the scams, the digital communication platforms utilized, and the exact volume of illicit financial flows generated by the network.
In addition to the computing hardware, detectives recovered a vast archive of international travel documents. Aside from the dominant Chinese passports, investigators recovered documents belonging to citizens of Vietnam, Cambodia, and several other Asian nations.
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The discovery has led intelligence agencies to suspect that the operation might be heavily intertwined with a broader human trafficking ring, where individuals are brought into the country under false pretenses only to be forced into digital labor syndicates.
Beyond the sweeping allegations of cybercrime, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has stepped into the probe to address massive documentation irregularities. Initial status checks performed on the suspects indicate that a significant percentage of the detained foreign nationals are currently residing and working in Uganda without valid visas, work permits, or formal alien registration documents required by the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act.
The operation underscores a growing concern among regional security experts regarding East Africa becoming a soft target for international cyber-syndicates fleeing stricter enforcement environments in Southeast Asia. These criminal networks routinely exploit high-speed internet infrastructure and relatively quiet suburban real estate to set up untraceable operational bases.
By Friday evening, July 10, 2026, top-tier security authorities had not yet released a definitive public statement detailing the exact final headcount of the detainees, the specific statutory charges to be preferred, or the estimated millions of dollars defrauded through the suspected digital enterprise.
The more than 700 suspects remain under tight security custody at various designated holding centers. A multi-agency task force comprising CID detectives, data forensics experts, and immigration officials has commenced a rigorous, individual screening process for all detainees. This exercise is running parallel to the extraction of data from the seized servers, which investigators hope will unmask the local facilitators and landlords who aided the syndicate’s long-term settlement.
Officials within the justice department have indicated that as soon as the baseline screening and primary forensic digital mapping are complete, all individuals found to have violated Uganda’s penal codes or immigration protocols will be formally arraigned before the courts of law to face prosecution, which could be followed by state-directed deportation procedures.
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