The machine designed to produce electric shock, which was impounded by the customs officials, will be examined by experts in explosives.
“The reason for confiscating such a gadget is to protect our people,” Herman Owomugisha, the Civil Aviation Authority security chief, told journalists as he displayed the machine at the Central Police Station in Kampala yesterday.
According to the Police, pastor Obiri Yeboah Korji of ‘We Are One Ministries’ imported the ‘Electric Touch’ machine from Germany recently.
Packed in a black box, it comprises a magnet, a wire measuring 30 centimetres and a tiny monitor, which flickers once the machine is activated.
Also in the box were an operation manual and a cd-rom. It is powered by tiny batteries of 12 volts.
To use it, the cable is placed in the shoes and the monitor in the stockings, while the magnet is placed in the other leg.
Once, a person moves, it is activated, Owomugisha said, adding that the wire and the magnet have positive and negative charges.
“People could be duped to think that it is a miracle. Once a person puts it on the hands and papers on a table start flying,” he said.
The manual states: “Once your body is charged, you are able to transfer this electricity to other objects that are grounded as well, such as people.
“Once you close the loop to someone who is standing on the floor, they will receive the static electricity shock.”
Owomugisha stressed that customs officials at Entebbe airport got suspicious when reading the writings on the box.
According to the instruction manual, it is not supposed to be used next to computers or used among people wearing jewellry or those with metals.
It is also not supposed to be used in areas with explosives.
It also emerged yesterday that Obiri Yeboah Nana, Korji’s colleague, tried to pick the machine from Entebbe but the Police instead summoned Korji, who was quizzed.
Owomugisha said the investigations were going on.
The Kampala Extra Police spokesman, Simeo Nsubuga, warned against false prophets.
“If our churches, the places of worship are becoming a sanctuary for criminal activities. The National Council for Fellowship should come up with codes of conduct to regulate them,” Nsubuga suggested. He warned that some pastors claim to cure HIV/AIDS.