Seven senior police officers who were initially charged with failure to protect war materials, aiding and abetting the kidnap and repatriation of Rwandan refugees have been set free.

The seven officers include Nixon Agasirwe, the former head of operations and former commandant at the special investigations unit (SIU), Col Ndahura Atwooki, the former director of crime intelligence and Herbert Muhangi, the former head of the flying squad.

Others are Richard Ndaboine, the former head of the cybercrime unit, Patrick Muramira, an operative in the flying squad, Jonas Ayebaza, a former personal assistant to former Inspector General of Police Gen Edward Kale Kayihura and Muyomba Kitagenda, an operative with the flying squad.

The prosecution had stated that on October 25, 2013, while at Kamengo in Mpigi district, the seven police officers conspired with their former boss Kayihura to kidnap three Rwandan refugees namely; Joel Mutabazi, Jackson Kalemera and Innocent Kaliisa and conveyed them to their country against their will.

The entire group had also been charged with unlawfully allowing the issuance of guns to unauthorized groups of people including the then  Boda-Boda 2010 patron Abdallah Kitatta, and his bodyguard detective constable Sowali Ngobi. The duo was later on found guilty and sentenced to a jail term they have since finished serving.

The policemen were between 2017 and 2018  jailed before securing their temporary freedom on bail. The group which was initially charged with Kayihura was on Tuesday afternoon released by the General Court Martial in Makindye presided over by Brig Gen Freeman Robert Mugabe.

The prosecution led by Lt Col Raphael Mugisha tendered a letter dated March 5, 2024, to the court indicating that the directorate of the prosecutions in the UPDF had withdrawn the charges against the police officers. He didn't specify the reasons for this decision.

Consequently, the Court Martial chairperson Mugabe set the accused persons free. Charges against Kayihura were also dropped by the state last year.