Police at the Entebbe International Airport have confirmed that they have so far arrested 23 individuals with forged negative COVID19 test results.
According to Afande Patrick Onyango, Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson, these travelers have been evading checkpoints and going on to give the country’s fight against the Coronavirus a bad image.
Onyango said that these suspects, 13 men, and 10 women have been detained at the Aviation Police Station in Entebbe and will be charged with forgery and uttering forged documents. The police continue to track down the makers of these fake documents.
At the airport, travelers are required to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test certificate issued within 120 hours before their departure time while incoming travelers must have a negative PCR COVID-19 test certificate issued within 72 hours before their flight. This is one of the Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) announced to be respected if the airport was to open to the public again.
Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport was open to the public on 1st October after the a grueling 6 months dating back to the end of March when the lockdown was annunced.
Health officials have since been deployed at the airport to specifically authenticate test results.
“Public or private, everybody, immediately the test is done, it is loaded unto the system and we’re able to log into that system for the authenticity of results. So right from day one, we netted one person who was exiting the country with a forged PCR certificate. He forged a negative certificate when we checked in the system, we found he was positive and immediately we got him and informed the police and handed him to the courts of law. Also on arrivals, we’re able to detect people who have forged. For example, there was a lady when we scanned, the system was showing a shopping mall in Dubai. We also had persons who actually had forged certificates, took samples when they were positive, they have been discharged,” said Dr. James Eyul, the director Kazuri Medical Services based at the airport.
