Hunt for four Ugandan athletes ‘missing in Scotland’ after Commonwealth Games in Glasgow

FOUR Ugandan athletes who competed in the Commonwealth Games have gone missing in Scotland after the games ended. The members of the African nation’s boxing team vanished following the conclusion of the games in Glasgow on Sunday. Ibrahim Kemis (in blue) of Team Uganda is one of the boxers who has vanished Credit: Getty Nuhu Batte of Team Uganda (blue) is also missing Credit: Getty Emily Nakalema is another one of the athletes missing Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Nuhu Batte of Team Uganda has gone missing with teammates Credit: Getty NBS Sports, a Ugandan sports website, say the athletes, Angel Katushabe, Nuhu Batte, Ibrahim Khemis and Emily Nakalema, did not join their teammates today, Tuesday, August 4, for their scheduled return home. Weekly Ugandan newspaper, The Weekly Observer, has also reported the disappearances. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The paper claims to have spoken to officials at Uganda Bombers, the country’s national boxing team who have confirmed the four are missing. NBS Sport reported that one of the missing boxers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the four athletes intend to seek asylum. The boxer said they wish to continue their boxing careers in a country with better training facilities and opportunities. The publication states “The boxer appealed to Ugandans for understanding and asked not to be judged for the decision.” It is not the first time althletes from global sporting contests. We reported last month how 400 foreign athletes and officials have gone AWOL from the last six Commonwealth Games. Most read in The Sun Border officials lost track of 39 runaways the last time Glasgow held the Games in 2014. By Chris Taylor MORE than 380 people linked to teams from impoverished nations have disappeared or applied for asylum after visiting Commonwealth Games host cities this century. Most ran off or refused to leave after arriving for the sporting events in Scotland, England and Australia. MANCHESTER 2002: Number who didn’t leave — 27. This included 21 members of the Sierra Leone team, four Bangladeshi runners and one swimmer from Pakistan. MELBOURNE 2006: Number who didn’t leave — 40. Among them were 14 Sierra Leone athletes, nine members of Team Cameroon and a boxer from Tanzania. DELHI, INDIA, 2010: Number who didn’t leave — unknown. Three boxers from Guyana absconded on their return journey at New York’s John F Kennedy Airport. GLASGOW 2014: Number who didn’t leave — 66. Rapist Philip Pariyo was one of two Ugandan rugby players who fled. Two Cameroonian wrestlers and a Sierra Leonian sprinter also vanished. GOLD COAST 2018: Number who fled — 230. Including athletes and officials from Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Uganda. BIRMINGHAM 2022: Number who fled — 17. Stalker Nazeer Khan was one of two Team Pakistan boxers who went on the run, plus wrestling, judo and volleyball competitors from Ghana, Cameroon, Sri Lanka and Botswana. One of those included a Ugandan rugby player Philip Pariyo, 33, who was then caged for four and a half years last February for a horror attack on a woman in Cardiff in 2021. He had earlier been granted asylum to stay in the UK. Ahead of this year’s games, Tory MSP Annie Wells said: “These staggering figures will alarm Glaswegians about a similar situation occurring. “SNP ministers cannot bury their heads in the sand as people outstay their welcome in the city. The Commonwealth Games must not become an avenue to abuse the system.” Despite event chiefs being warned to keep tabs on overseas camps, it seems the four boxers have still somehow managed to disappear. In previous cases cops launched hunts for travelling competitors, coaches and even fans who vanished from other host cities instead of returning home. Last year we told how a Paisley mum was hounded for 17 months by former Team Pakistan boxer Nazeer Khan, 26, after he vanished from the last Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham in 2022. Stephanie Metcalfe, 40, was targeted by the creep after she met him while he worked in a kebab shop. Last August Khan admitted breaching bail and abusive behaviour and was ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and banned from contacting Stephanie for three years. Despite his conviction and still having no asylum status, he remains in Scotland. As far back as 2014 we told how two Ugandan athletes who went AWOL after the Games that year were tracked down working in a car wash in Cumbernauld. Rugby 7s stars Benon Kizza and Phillip Pariyo, both 24, failed to join team-mates on a flight home. At the time a Team Uganda source said: “I think they had their own plans as soon as they got to Glasgow.” Comment now