Gilbert Olanya, a member of parliament for Kilak South, was detained by the police in Gulu City on suspicion of encouraging villagers to steal charcoal.
Tuesday saw the arrest of Olanya at the For-God Parish in the Bardege-Layibi Division, outside the heart of Gulu City.
During the arrest, police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of residents who had allegedly stopped a truck with the license plate UAM 698Q that was carrying charcoal from an unidentified place.
Olanya is charged by the police with organizing and persuading residents to unlawfully stop charcoal trucks and steal their cargo of charcoal.
In an interview, Conrad Byomugabe, the Gulu City West Division Police Commander, confirmed Olanya’s detention and stated that he is being held at the Gulu City West Police station.
Byomugabe claims that Olanya’s detention is connected to the instigation of locals and violence and adds that many police officers were hurt when the suspect was taken into custody.
“It is true that we have detained him from the For-god on Amuru Road scene. According to Byomugabe, he is being detained at the Gulu West Police Station.
But he adds that more inquiry needs to be done by the police before all the information about his arrest can be made public.
Together with a gang of vigilantes, Olanya recently began a campaign against the region’s expanding illegal charcoal trade, accusing the local police and environmental authorities of failing to stop the vice.
His campaign is taking place against the backdrop of the Ministry of Environment’s ongoing restriction on the issuance of paperwork that would otherwise facilitate the commercial production, trade, and transportation of charcoal. The ban was announced in February of this year.
Local authorities in the area claim that numerous trucks carrying charcoal nonetheless pass through security checkpoints guarded by police every day, despite the ban.
Since then, Olanya and his counterpart, former Aruu Counter lawmaker Samuel Odonga Otto, have taken matters into their own hands and have been captured on tape stopping charcoal trucks, damaging charcoal bags, and encouraging residents to pilfer them in separate occasions.
However, David Ongom Mudong, a spokesman for the Aswa River Region Police, warned last week that the legislator’s behavior would have repercussions because it was illegal.
Odonga Otto is accused of instigating residents to steal 380 bags of charcoal worth 24.7 million shillings from Angagura Sub-county in Pader District, according to a complaint filed by a businessman in Kampala City last week.
Over 1,000 bags of charcoal were seized by Amuru District officials last month as part of a campaign to enforce the ban on the production and transportation of illegal charcoal.
Watch The Video of his arrest below
