Police in Mbale have in custody two suspects alleged to have taken part in the disappearance of a three-year-old baby.
The victim is identified as Lydia Darlene Muduwa, while the suspects are Florence Apio, a mother to Mariam Betty Alupo, the caretaker of the missing child and her brother, Esau Okurut.
According to the minor’s grandfather Wanaku Kidongo a resident of Namakwekwe Estate in Northern Division in Mbale Municipality, Muduwa went missing on Friday last week from the hands of Mariam Betty Alupo, also a resident of Namakwekwe Estate.
Following the minor’s disappearance, her mother Carol Muduwa an office assistant at the UNRA offices in Mbale received a phone call from two boys asking her to send them transport to return her child from Moroto district.
The aggrieved mother told police that she returned home on Friday last week and found her child missing from her grandfather's home where she normally drops her before proceeding to work.
When they discovered the child was missing they searched for Alupo who has been known to the family for over 20 years and recently started taking care of the child.
They called Alupo who told them she didn't have the child and that she had travelled to Kumi district to check on her sick father prompting them to report the matter to local council authorities and Nkoma police station, which referred them to Mbale Central Police Station.
Police picked up Florence Apio, the mother to Alupo prompting her to tell them that the people who had the minor only wanted some small money to release her.
The acting Elgon Police Spokesperson Robert Tukei, has confirmed the arrest of the two suspects, adding that they also tracked Alupo's phone to Wera Sub County in Amuria district and dispatched a team to pick her up but unfortunately they didn't find her.
Alupo is still on the run but he says they will find her.
