A sense of dread and uncertainty hangs over Kampala as security personnel investigate the harrowing abduction of Congolese businessman Prince Tony Mola Bokanga and the theft of 100kg of gold valued at Sh31.2 billion.
Bokanga’s disappearance unfolded on Sunday evening in Busega, where he was reportedly trailed by armed men who intercepted his vehicle, forcibly removing him before vanishing without a trace.
The attackers, whose identities remain unknown, also took the substantial consignment of gold he had brought for his clients in Kampala.
Since that moment, there has been no sign of Bokanga—no word, no ransom demand, only silence.
His family, gripped by fear, reported the case to Busega Police Station on Tuesday under reference number GEF 12/2025. According to reports, Bokanga had entered Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo through the Bwera border in Kasese district that same morning.
He had been driving a Toyota Alphard, carrying gold intended for Romanian and Dutch clients, when his journey took a sinister turn.
Eyewitnesses recount a chilling scene: a white, tinted drone vehicle abruptly intercepting Bokanga’s car, masked men dragging him out alongside a bag presumed to contain the gold.
In a calculated move, the assailants ignored the other passengers in the vehicle—Bokanga, it seemed, was their sole target.
The gravity of the crime is underscored by the staggering value of the stolen gold. At an international market rate of $85,309 per kilogram, the 100kg haul represents a fortune exceeding $8.5 million (Sh31.2 billion).
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango acknowledged the case, stating:
“We will review our footage on the road to establish what happened, but I urge his relatives and friends to work with us in the search.”
Meanwhile, Julius Caesar Tusingwire, commandant of the Mineral Protection Unit, distanced his team from the alleged arrest, urging the family to formally engage the police in their desperate attempt to trace Bokanga’s whereabouts.
This is not the first time gold has disappeared in transit under violent circumstances.
In a similarly grim episode last July, a shooting at Buddo Junction in Wakiso district left two people dead—Evelyne Nalumansi Katende, a Uganda Revenue Authority employee, and a Uganda People’s Defence Force soldier, Pte Lawrence Ekirap.
The attack, later revealed to have been over 4.5kg of gold worth Sh1.3 billion, painted a disturbing picture of the high-stakes battles raging beneath Uganda’s lucrative gold trade.
The specter of gold smuggling has long loomed over Uganda. In 2017, the United Nations Security Council demanded transparency from gold exporters in Kampala, following revelations that traders were sourcing smuggled gold from DR Congo.
Even as gold continues to be a pillar of Uganda’s economy—raking in $317.76 million (Sh1.16 trillion) in October last year before falling to $268 million (Sh984.9 billion) in November—its murky underbelly remains fraught with danger, secrecy, and bloodshed.
For now, as days slip by without a trace of Bokanga, his family is left clinging to hope amid a widening void of uncertainty. A man has vanished, a fortune has been stolen, and the truth remains locked in the shadows.
