Ugandan MP arrested over charcoal looting
Police accuse the MP of mobilizing and inciting locals to illegally intercept trucks carrying charcoal bags and loot the charcoal.
A Uganda MP was arrested by police in the country's Gulu city for allegedly inciting locals to loot charcoal.
Jacob Olanya was arrested from For-God parish in Bardege-Layibi Division, outside Gulu city centre.
Police fired teargas during the arrest to disperse a group of locals who had reportedly intercepted a truck, registration number UAM 698Q loaded with charcoal from an unknown destination.
Police accuse Olanya of mobilizing and inciting locals to illegally intercept trucks carrying charcoal bags and loot the charcoal. Olanya recently launched a campaign on the escalating illegal charcoal trade in the region along with a group of vigilantes while accusing the police and environmental authorities in the region of failing to curb the vice.
His campaign comes against the backdrop of an ongoing ban on the issuance of documents facilitating the commercial production, trade, and transportation of charcoal issued by the ministry of Environment in February this year.
