National Unity Platform (NUP) supporter, Fred Lumbuye was last night arrested in Istanbul, Turkey.
His arrest comes weeks after President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni tasked security forces to urgently step up and hunt all social media users that had made it a business to declare prominent Ugandans dead.
Museveni’s directive followed a series of fake news reports suggesting that some members of the First Family had reportedly died including the President.
Among the bloggers that pushed the news on various online platforms was Fred Lumbuye, a radical supporter of Robert Kyagulanyi.
Lumbuye on several occasions peddled falsehoods against the government of Uganda during and after elections which affected the country’s image internationally.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that Lumbuye had been picked by unidentified men as he returned to his residence on Tuesday evening in Turkey.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to the arrest saying Ugandan community in Turkey has since reported the arrest of Lumbuye.
“According to reports from the Ugandan Community in Istanbul- Turkey Mr. Fred Lumbuye has been arrested. The Uganda Embassy in Ankara is yet to receive official communication from the relevant law enforcement institutions of Turkey in regard to this case,” the Foreign Ministry in Kampala said.
However, sources in State House which we talked to confirmed that Lumbuye was arrested last night.
Whereas NUP members have insisted that Uganda and Turkey have no reciprocal bilateral arrangement which warrant the extradition of Lumbuye, State House officials maintain that “something will be done to have Lumbuye brought home to face charges.”
Lumbuye had previously announced the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi dead.