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30 suspected gangsters arrested heading to bury their lynched colleague
Some of the suspected 30 gangsters that police arrested on their way for burial of their colleague killed by mob action in Buweri District. PHOTO/DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- One of the 30 gangster suspects is alleged to have participated in the brutal murder of Ugandan weightlifter Prosy Nyanga.
Police in Jinja City have arrested 30 suspected gangsters who were travelling for the burial of one of their colleagues who was lynched by a mob after he was found stealing in Bugweri District on Monday.
Police say they have been hunting for this particular group of suspects who waylay their victims using motorcycles and vehicles at night along the highways of Jinja-Kamuli, Jinja-Iganga, and within city centres.
According to police, the group usually loads grabbed items on to the motorcycles and the said vehicles during night attacks on civilians.
“The people that police have been looking for to apprehend for various crimes committed have been arrested. We received a report that they were traveling to Bugweri District for the burial of one their colleagues killed by the mob. We put roadblocks and arrested them in Bugembe (Jinja),” said Kiira Police spokesperson James Mubi.
According to Mubi, one of the 30 gangster suspects is alleged to have participated in the brutal murder of Ugandan weightlifter Prosy Nyanga. Nyanga was killed in Bugembe in September 2022.
Mubi noted that the group members are always armed with machetes among other dangerous weapons- and ride on motorcycles with a following vehicle following where they put their loot.
“They do this such that when they get them, they can easily claim they were not the ones upon checking their motorcycles,” he explained.
“They don’t use one car but they keep on changing differently. One of their cars is a Subaru and police are yet to establish the number plate,” Mubi on Tuesday.
Mubi also disclosed that police are going to embark on arresting landlords who rent out a single room to be occupied by more than three people when the property owners don’t know origins of the house occupants.
Almost 100 people are killed annually by machete wielding assailants in Uganda, according to data from Ugandan authorities.
