Retired Ugandan army lieutenant and former diplomat Michael Katungi Mpeirwe has been extradited to the United States to face charges over an alleged international conspiracy to supply military-grade weapons and cocaine to a Mexican drug cartel.
Katungi was handed over to US authorities after Ugandan courts cleared the way for his extradition. He is expected to face prosecution before the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on three counts relating to alleged cocaine trafficking, firearms offences and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
US prosecutors allege that Katungi was part of a four-man international network that sought to supply weapons to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful drug-trafficking organisations.
The alleged weapons included machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, sniper rifles, night-vision equipment, anti-personnel mines and anti-aircraft weapons. Prosecutors say the group also discussed supplying surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft drones and a ZU-23 anti-aircraft system.
According to the US indictment, the alleged conspiracy began at least in September 2022 and involved Bulgarian arms dealer Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo, Tanzanian national Subiro Osmund Mwapinga and Katungi.
Prosecutors allege that the group used fraudulent End-User Certificates to conceal the intended destination of the weapons.
The documents were allegedly used to make it appear that Tanzania was the intended recipient of the firearms, while the actual plan was for the weapons to reach the CJNG in Mexico.
As a test shipment, the group allegedly arranged for 50 AK-47 automatic rifles, together with magazines and ammunition, to be exported from Bulgaria using the documentation.
US prosecutors further allege that the conspirators planned a much larger weapons deal worth approximately €53.7 million (US$58 million).
The proposed arsenal allegedly included weapons capable of significantly increasing the cartel’s military capabilities.
Katungi is also accused of participating in a conspiracy to distribute and possess at least five kilogrammes of cocaine, knowing that the drugs would ultimately be unlawfully imported into the United States.
Katungi was arrested in June 2026 after the United States sought his surrender and was initially remanded at Luzira Prison while the extradition case proceeded.
If convicted in the United States, Katungi faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment on the charges. The actual sentence would be determined by a federal judge based on the applicable sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Katungi has denied knowledge of the US indictment, telling Uganda’s New Vision in August that he had not received formal notification from an official authority about the case.
The allegations against him remain unproven. Under US law, an indictment is an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
His extradition now clears the way for the case to proceed before the US federal court in Virginia.