Five people have been arrested in connection with an alleged Shs13 billion gold scam in which two Sudanese investors claim they were defrauded.
The arrests followed a directive by President Yoweri Museveni on 17 August 2026 after Sudanese investors Ibrahim Gafar and Mohammed Nagi complained that they had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a gold transaction.
The suspects are Bernard Feni, also known as Mungu Feni, the founder and owner of EuroGold Refinery; Trevor Besigye; UPDF Maj. Nicholas Ntakirwa; Agaba, who is accused of facilitating payments through foreign exchange transactions; and Ali Mohammed, the former managing director of Duck Hunters Security Company.
Ntakirwa was arrested by the Special Forces Command on 4 September and is being held at Kisenyi Barracks. Feni was arrested on 8 September and is detained at the Special Investigations Unit in Kireka, together with Agaba and Besigye.
Mohammed was re-arrested on Friday shortly after appearing before the Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court in a separate case involving allegations of forgery.
As part of the investigation, security agencies raided the EuroGold Refinery offices in Kamwokya, Kampala, and Feni’s residence in Buziga. Several items believed to be relevant to the investigation were recovered.
The alleged scam centres on a consignment of gold which the Sudanese investors say was supposed to be processed and secured in Uganda. They claim the gold was stored at Duck Hunters Security Company before the people they were dealing with instructed them to travel through Entebbe.
According to the investors, the individuals they were dealing with later disappeared, leaving them without their gold consignment. They subsequently returned to Dubai without the gold.
Museveni, in a letter to Inspector General of Police Abas Byakagaba, directed police to investigate the complaint, arrest those responsible and recover the investors’ money if the allegations were found to be true.
“This is, therefore, to direct you to personally oversee the investigation of this scam, apprehend these criminals and recover their money. I give you two months to solve this problem if the accusers are telling the truth,” Museveni wrote.
The President also raised concerns about the regulation of Uganda’s gold trade and questioned whether the country should continue licensing large numbers of gold dealers.
Museveni said criminal activities involving gold from neighbouring countries could damage Uganda’s reputation as an investment destination.
Following the directive, a special committee was established under the Inspector General of Police to investigate the allegations.
EuroGold Refinery, one of the companies involved in the investigation, was recently contracted by the Bank of Uganda to supply and refine locally mined gold under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.
However, Feni’s lawyer, Emmanuel Candia, denied that his client was involved in any fraud.
“He operates a refinery. The client came in for a service of refining. He performed the service in the full presence of the clients and they signed for their gold and left,” Candia said.
