The Internal Security Organisation (ISO) has disputed the police report regarding the death of two foreigners in two Kampala hotels early last month, underlying the disagreements between the two security agencies regarding criminal investigations and handling of criminal cases.
Tuomas Juha Petteri Teräsvuori from Finland died at Pearl of Africa Hotel on February 5, while Alex Sebastian from Sweden was found dead in his room at Sheraton Kampala Hotel on February 6.
In a press conference on February 20, then police chief Kale Kayihura claimed that the duo died due to use of narcotics, claiming that drugs were found in their bodies.
However, the ISO Director for Political Affairs, Lt Col Joseph Aliganyira told journalists on Tuesday that the CCTV footage from Pearl of Africa Hotel where Petteri stayed was doctored and hence inconsistent with police reports.
“Some people treated us to funny information from a certain video photography trying to divert us from the right information. Most of that was acted, including that of the journalist who was part of the act,” Lt Col Aliganyira said.
“Police have their own report. We have our own report. They have the wrong CCTV footage, which was digitally manipulated,” he added.
This website was shown the two video footages and indeed the one held by police shows Petteri moving out of the hotel room while the one held by ISO shows no one leaving the room. Both footages were recorded on the same night at the same time.
Lt Col Aliganyira added that the CCTV image was tampered with, with some elements removed so as to mislead the public.
He also claimed intercepted audio recordings of a conversation between New Vision journalist Charles Etukuri and some Finnish journalists contradict the police report and what he himself recorded in his statement before ISO.
According to Lt Col Aliganyira, although Etukuri claimed he had not entered Petteri’s hotel room, their CCTV footage shows him entering the room together with other whites and hotel workers.
The ISO revelation matches with the earlier one by the deceased’s family, who said the deceased had never taken drugs.
Sources had earlier told this website that Petteri had arrived at Entebbe Airport on February 4 in the company of Suvi Linden, a former Communications minister and a member of the National Coalition Party, the biggest political party in Finland. The duo then informed security agents at the airport that they had come to on the invitation of Col Frank Kaka Bagyenda, the head of ISO.
Sources add that when security agents informed Col Bagyenda of the news by telephone, he said he was not aware of the two visitors. Sources say that at that moment, two men and one woman arrived at the airport to purportedly pick up the visitors.
However, when the latter then found the two foreign nationals briefly detained at the airport, sources say, they tried to flee but the woman, whose identity has been concealed not to jeopardize investigations, was arrested.
Lt Col Aliganyira acknowledged that some of their staff had been involved in the plot and have since been arrested.
