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5 suspects flee as police recover 11 stolen motorcycles from Oyam home
A boda-boda operator carries a cow in Apac Town on April 23, 2022. Thugs target boda-bodas in parts of Northern Uganda. PHOTO/SANTO OJOK
What you need to know:
- Police noted that there is a racket of motorcycle robbers with a network beyond the Lango sub-region as recovered motorcycles were taken to Oyam Central Police station.
At least five suspects escaped arrest as police recovered 11 allegedly stolen motorcycles from a home in Oyam District over the weekend.
The motorcycles believed to have been robbed from boda boda operators in northern Uganda were found in Obanga-angeo Village in Loro Town Council during a weekend operation.
Three of the motorcycles had already been dismantled to be sold as spare parts.
Loro Town Council LC3 chairman Mr Robert Ekwaro said they aimed to arrest a suspected hardcore criminal when they stormed his home on Saturday at around 6am.
“I confronted him in front of his place but he jumped on one of the stolen motorcycles and sped off as armed policemen were watching. They did not even fire a single bullet,” Mr Ekwaro told Monitor on Sunday.
“Four other suspected robbers also managed to escape using four motorcycles which were not part of those recovered. We suspect that there could be over 50 motorcycles these gangs possess in that area,” he added.
Mr Ekwaro told Monitor that they were able to identify the owners of some of the recovered items using phone numbers inscribed on the machines.
“We have called one of the motorcycle owners from Apac District. Another one was robbed from Lira City and the other one from Alebtong District. We have informed them to come and collect their recovered motorcycles,” Mr Ekwaro added.
Mr Geoffrey Olodi, a boda-boda operator in Lira City, said his motorcycle was robbed on July 27, 2022 when two people pretending to be passengers paid him Shs15, 000.
“They told me to transport them to Kole District but hit me on the head and grabbed the motorcycle when we reached a lonely place they,” he told this reporter.
Authorities disclosed that several stolen items including welding machines were also recovered from the home.
“The main suspect managed to escape but police were still hunting for him,” North Kyoga regional police spokesman, Mr Patrick Jimmy Okema said of “Saturday’s raid that followed a tip off from a community which was seeing so many suspected stolen motorcycles at that home.”
Police noted that there is a racket of motorcycle robbers with a network beyond the Lango Sub-region as recovered motorcycles were taken to Oyam Central Police station.
More than 100 Ugandan boda-boda riders are killed annually by thugs who target their motorcycles.
