A youth from Merikit Sub-county in Tororo District was arrested by the army on Thursday as hundreds gathered for UPDF recruitment.

The 23-ye4ar-old was caught with forged Uganda Certificate of Education documents, the army said.

"His certificate was indicating 2021 yet UNEB never set exams during the year due to Covid-19," said Colonel Saad Katemba, the in-charge of recruitment eastern region.

The suspect was later handed over to police and upon interrogation, he revealed that he had stopped in Senior Three.

"He has been handed over to police for investigations to provide information on how he got fake UNEB documents of 2021," Albert Amula, deputy RDC Tororo, said.

Since the beginning of UPDF recruitments two months ago, the force has experienced serious challenges as per regards to forgery of academic documents by recruits.

Col Katemba, however, confirmed that a lot has been put in place to fight the vice.,

"We have gadgets to check the authenticity of the documents they have," he said.

The arrested suspect was among the 116 applicants that turn out for UPDF recruitment in Tororo as the force pitched camp in the district to handle recruitment in the three districts of Busia, Butaleja and Tororo.