Six arrested for presenting fake academic documents during UPDF recruitment

Six people who had turned up to be recruited into the Uganda Peoples Defense Force have arrested in Kitgum after presenting forged academic documents.

The exercise, which is being held at the Kitgum Boma ground, aims to recruit 64 youths from the districts of Kitgum and Lamwo.

According to the UPDF 4th infantry division public information officer Captain Ahmed Hassan Kato, in total ten people presented forged academic documents.

"The four who confessed and opened up were forgiven but cautioned not to use those documents anywhere else" he says.

He adds that the fake academic documents were withheld.

Captain Hassan also revealed that the six applicants were caught with fake Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) result slips.

"We have zero tolerance for fraud and forgery in our recruitment process," Captain Hassan Kato said, while adding that "We will not compromise on the integrity of our recruitment exercise."

The arrests were made on Friday at the Kitgum Boma ground, where the applicants had turned up for the recruitment exercise.

He  also says that they have set up a robust verification process to ensure the authenticity of documents presented by applicants.

"Our team of experts has been scrutinizing the documents, and we have detected several cases of forgery," he said.

He expects that whoever is found with fake documents will face the full force of the law.

Forgery of documents is a criminal offense in Uganda, punishable by law.

The six applicants who were arrested with the fake academic documents had initially insisted that the papers were legit, but they were nabbed once put through the UPDF vetting process.

The UPDF has warned applicants against attempting to present fake documents, stating that it will not hesitate to take legal action against those found with forged papers.

The recruitment exercise in Kitgum is ongoing, and the UPDF has assured applicants that the process will be fair and transparent.

The six applicants with fake academic papers have been handed over to the police for further action.