Ugandan extradited to US to face arms smuggling charges
A former confidant of Uganda's army chief has been extradited to the United States for allegedly plotting to provide weapons to Mexican drug cartels, the head of the country's prison service told AFP on Saturday.
Washington announced in July that it had charged Katungi Michael Mpeirwe and three other suspects with conspiring to supply some $54 million worth of weapons, including to the notorious Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).
Mpeirwe, a close associate of Ugandan army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba, and his co-accused -- a Bulgarian, Kenyan and Tanzanian -- allegedly intended to provide machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-personnel mines.
They also sought to supply the cartels with surface-to-air missiles, drones and anti-aircraft guns, according to US prosecutors.
Kainerugaba's father is Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.
The commissioner general of prisons in Uganda, Johnson Byabashaija, told AFP that Mpeirwe "has been handed over to the United States authorities".
"They have him now."
According to a Ugandan security source, Mpeirwe, a former military intelligence officer and diplomat, was arrested on June 27 in an upmarket part of Kampala and brought before a court two days later.
The Ugandan judiciary announced at the end of last month that his extradition was imminent.
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