Aviation Police at Entebbe International Airport has apprehended 23 intending travellers with forged COVID-19 negative test certificates on Sunday.
The test certificate is a prerequisite for all intending travellers as part of the Standard Operating Procedures put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango confirmed the arrest adding that the suspects who are both Ugandan and foreign nationals are currently detained at Entebbe International Airport for interrogation.
The arrest comes after Uganda’s Coronavirus cases reached 10,590.
Onyango said police has been receiving reports that there are people who are forging COVID-19 certificates to travel abroad which gives a bad image to Uganda.
“We want to warn the public that if you attempt to get to the airport with a forged COVID-19 certificate, you will be immediately detected and you will be arrested,” Onyango said.
Onyango further said that suspects will be charged with forgery and uttering forged documents as investigations continue.
“We want to establish the route where these fake documents originated from, so right now the investigations are ongoing. We appeal to Ugandans to get the right certificate through the right channels not back doors,” he noted.
Following the arrests, aviation health authorities have also revealed that diplomats and senior government officials are some of the travellers that occasionally refused to present COVID-19 certificates.
The health specialists also said the forgery started as soon as the airport reopened.
A week ago, authorities at the airport said more than 50 passengers had so far missed their flights for showing up with invalid COVID-19 negative test certificates.
All travellers going through the airport are required to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test certificate issued within 120 hours before their departure time while incoming passengers must have a negative PCR COVID-19 test certificate issued within 72 hours before their flight.
The new guidelines came into effect on October 1st, 2020 when the government reopened Entebbe International Airport for commercial flights after the six month lockdown.
