NIRA employee, 7 UPDF soldiers arrested over Shs480m crypto robbery

An employee of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), Alex Mwogeza, has been arrested alongside seven Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers.

Mwogeza helped them rob and abduct Festo Ivaib, the founder of Mitroplus Labs and the visionary behind the Afro Token project.

A statement from Mitroplus Labs Management says that Mwogeza confessed to orchestrating the abduction in an operation led by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), now known as Defence Intelligence and Security (DIS).

"Alex abused his position by accessing Mr. Festo Ivaib's personal information from NIRA's data systems, including phone numbers," the statement reads.

"This information was then used to track his movements and obtain location coordinates over time. During interrogation, Mwogeza, in collaboration with Batamuze Isaac, a known cryptocurrency broker, facilitated the onboarding of seven UPDF soldiers from various guard posts and army formations to carry out the criminal act."

The implicated individuals are now in CMI custody.

Blockchain transaction records show the perpetrators withdrew approximately $117,000 and swapped around $18,000 worth of Afro Tokens, totalling $135,000 (about Shs480 million).

Several transactions were traced to specific wallet addresses and smart contracts involved in the illicit activity.

The funds were funnelled through major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Bybit, and HotBit.

Among these, only Binance responded to official requests for Know Your Customer (KYC) information associated with the suspicious wallets, helping with the ongoing investigation into this industry malpractice.

Several recovery efforts are underway.

One suspect, Isaac Batamuze, confirmed that the group only managed to withdraw funds from wallets that did not require multi-signature authentication.

The remaining funds are stored on the devices. During interrogation, Batamuze confessed to destroying the phone screens and disposing of the devices in a nearby pit latrine on the night of the incident.

Authorities are now working to exhume the devices, hoping to recover the remaining funds from internal storage or hardware wallets.