By Halima Athumani

KAMPALA - Ugandan police said Monday that in an operation around Kampala's city center, they arrested 120 people suspected to have been using narcotics. However, members of the LGBT community say it was a health meeting that police interrupted. Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, tells VOA they received intelligence information that the site of the raid — The Ram Bar — is used as a massage parlor during day and for smoking opium and shisha during the night.

Both products are outlawed in the Tobacco Control Act 2015 and people found guilty of using them are liable for a fine of $130 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

"We are charging them under the Tobacco Control Act," said Onyango. "We have started the process of screening and recording statements from them. There are those we shall give police bonds, students, and those who claim that they are innocent. They were just there for a dance and they were not participating in the smoking."

Sean Mugisha, a paralegal who is trying to secure bail for the arrested members, tells VOA that Ram Bar is the only safe place that the LGBT community has in Kampala and is used for health outreach. Read more via VOA