A 25-year-old shop attendand who allegedly identified himself in a viral video clip on the social media platform TikTok as one of the attackers that raided the Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe town, Kasese District, western Uganda, has been detained by police.
37 students and five other community members were killed in the Friday night attack that has been attributed to members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia headquartered in eastern DR Congo.
According to authorities, a total of roughly six students as well as several other community members were abducted during the 11:30pm raid.
Resto Kalenzi, a resident of Namengo village in Lugazi Municipality in the Buikwe District, was arrested on Tuesday as part of an operation run by ASP Catherine Alupo, the crime intelligence officer, and John Lukooto, the district police commander.
According to authorities, his arrest was the result of a recording that went viral on ByteDance’s Chinese short-form video hosting platform and in which he claimed to be an ADF member who had orchestrated the attack.
According to SP Hellen Butoto, a police spokesperson for the Ssezibwa region, “the suspect has been detained at Lugazi Central Police Station as investigations are ongoing.”