A dark and deeply troubling human trafficking network is preying on Ugandan citizens, with hundreds reportedly being lured to India under false pretenses, only to be bought and sold into modern-day slavery. Authorities and advocacy groups now estimate that over 20,000 Ugandans are trapped in India, enduring horrific abuse.
Our reporter, Lawrence Kyambadde, has obtained exclusive information from community leaders on the ground who are working tirelessly to rescue them.
The promise of a better life in India is turning into a nightmare for thousands of Ugandans. Alex Ssembatya, who heads the Foundation of Uganda Joint Migrant Workers for Peace and Development—an organization recognized by State House for its work with the Ugandan diaspora—has raised the alarm, revealing the cruel reality faced by our citizens in India.
Speaking to community leaders and human rights advocates at a meeting in the Lubaga division, Ssembatya detailed a sophisticated trafficking ring. He explains that many victims, especially women, are recruited from Uganda with promises of legitimate work in salons, hotels, or as domestic workers. However, upon arrival in India, they are instead sold to Nigerian criminal networks operating there.
According to Ssembatya, the traffickers, often posing as agents or brokers, facilitate the travel. Once the women arrive in India, they are sold to these Nigerian men, who then use brutal force to enslave them. The victims are stripped of their passports and forced into sex slavery. For every man they are forced to be with, the victim is charged a fee of approximately 800,000 Ugandan shillings. This money is not theirs to keep; it is collected by their captors to pay off an ever-increasing "debt"—the supposed cost of their travel and arrangement to India, which can balloon to between 20 and 30 million Ugandan shillings. Only after this impossible debt is paid are they promised their passports back.
Kenneth Oloko, who heads the Kyeyo Initiative Uganda, is based here and advises the Ugandan government. He is urgently calling for direct intervention. He stresses that the government must collaborate immediately with Indian authorities to facilitate the rescue and return of these stranded citizens. He points out that a lack of focus on this issue by the government is a key factor that allows traffickers to continue their operations with ease.
There was a glimmer of hope. As Emma Wataka explains, the Indian government, recognizing the high number of undocumented foreigners within its borders, offered an amnesty period.
This amnesty, which ran from September 2025 to February 28th, 2026, allowed undocumented migrants to regularize their status or leave without penalty. However, the window has now closed, and tragically, many Ugandans missed it because they remained completely unaware, hidden and isolated by their captors.
The dynamic in India is unique. India is a vast nation, 15 times the size of Uganda. Compounding the problem is a pervasive racial stereotype. Many Indians, when they see a Black person, automatically assume they are Nigerian. This allows the Nigerian criminal gangs, who are the primary buyers of these Ugandan women, to operate with a layer of cover. They confiscate the women's passports and force them to work for them, often implicating them in other serious crimes, which further traps the victims and makes them afraid to seek help from authorities.
This is a crisis hidden in plain sight. Thousands of Ugandans are not migrants in India; they are prisoners. They are being bought, sold, and brutalized, and the clock is ticking on efforts to bring them home.
