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The Chairman of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has dismissed Michael Katungi from his position as Commissioner for External Affairs after he was indicted in the United States for conspiring to supply military-grade weaponry to Mexican drug cartels.
"I have decided to remove Michael Katungi as Commissioner for External Affairs of PLU. He is also removed as a member of our Central Committee," Gen Kainerugaba, who is also the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), posted on X.
"From now on, only the Chairman will appoint the foreign committees of our movement."
The move followed an internal investigation. Earlier, the CDF had posted on X: "I am waiting for an internal report on our Commissioner for External Affairs. As Chairman of PLU, I shall take the final decision on his position amongst us. Our members do not have to be concerned about anything."
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According to the United States Justice Department, Katungi, a Ugandan national with government connections, worked with Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo to obtain end-user certificates (EUCs) and delivery verification protocols (DVPs) in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.
An EUC must be obtained by an entity lawfully seeking to purchase military-grade weaponry. A DVP is required after the weapons transaction to confirm delivery.
Both documents record arms transactions from start to finish to prevent criminal and terrorist groups from illegally acquiring arms.
Katungi, a policy adviser employed by the Government of Uganda, is a former deputy head of mission at the Uganda High Commission and a former security logistics officer with the African Union Commission.
He has served as a security adviser in Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.
The US alleges that in meetings with drug cartels in Cape Town and London, he offered to fraudulently obtain EUCs and DVPs from African countries in exchange for a two per cent commission on each arms deal.
In 2021, Katungi contested for Member of Parliament for Butemba County in Kyakwanzi District as an independent candidate but lost.
He also lost in the recent National Resistance Movement (NRM) primaries.
An indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Virginia charges a Bulgarian arms trafficker and three other foreign nationals with conspiracy to distribute cocaine; conspiracy to possess firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices, in furtherance of drug trafficking; and conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation.
According to the indictment, in September 2022, Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, Asumo, Katungi (also referred to as Mpeirwe), and Tanzanian national Subiro Osmund Mwapinga conspired to illegally supply military-grade weaponry to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most violent transnational criminal organisations.
The weaponry included machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, night vision devices, sniper rifles, anti-personnel mines, and anti-aircraft weapons.
The indictment states that the defendants believed the CJNG intended to use the weapons to facilitate cocaine trafficking into the United States.
On 20 February 2025, the CJNG was designated a foreign terrorist organisation.
In meetings with individuals claiming to represent the CJNG, Mirchev allegedly agreed to arrange and participate in illegal arms transactions while evading detection by law enforcement.
Mirchev allegedly recruited Asumo to obtain an EUC from a country that would falsely state a different end-user.
Asumo recruited Katungi, who recruited Mwapinga.
Together, they allegedly obtained an EUC from Tanzania authorising the importation of AK-47s. As a test, 50 AK-47 assault rifles with magazines and ammunition were exported from Bulgaria using the fraudulent EUC, intended for the CJNG.
The group allegedly continued plotting to supply more weaponry, potentially including surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft drones, and the ZU-23 anti-aircraft system.
Mirchev is accused of creating a €53.7 million (about Shs 200 billion) weapons list for the CJNG, with the others agreeing to provide arms control documents to hide the weapons’ true destination.