Prime
Police crack down on Northern Bypass, Fairway junction thugs
Fairway junction in Kampala. Police have carried out an operation and arrested more than two dozen suspects who have been attacking and robbing motorists in heavy traffic jams. PHOTO BY ALEX ESAGALA
Police have carried out an operation on Northern Bypass, Fairway junction and Lugogo Bypass where they arrested more than two dozen suspects, who have been attacking and robbing motorists.
There was public outcry about criminals who would snatch mobile phones and other property from motorists on Northern Bypass, traffic lights at Lugogo Bypass and Fairway Road junction at night and during rush hours when there is heavy traffic jam.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga said criminal gangs that have been operating in the three areas have been dismantled and more than 21 suspects arrested.
“Seven suspects were arrested by Kira Road Police along Northern Bypass. They have been targeting victims on Northern Bypass and we got several complaints. The suspects, who are residents of Kulambiro village, were found with pangas, iron bars and spears. They also had old of police uniforms,” Mr Enanga said yesterday.
Police intensified operations against violent criminals in Kampala Metropolitan Police Area after President Museveni ordered the police to produce a city crime plan.
Security agencies later raided hubs that sell mobile phones and motorcycles and arrested more than 300 people on allegations of being in possession of stolen property.
At Fairway junction and Kololo Independence Grounds on Yusuf Lule Road, three men were arrested on allegations that they have been snatching mobile phones and dealing in stolen property.
Mr Enanga said one of suspects, Mathias Mwebe, is a businessman with a shop around Nakivubo Green Crescent in the city centre.
“Mwebe has been hiring youths to snatch mobile phones around Kololo area. He would wait at a hotel to collect them and sell them in his shop. We have been looking for him after he went in hiding after we raided his shop and arrested his workers,” Mr Enanga said.
The project
The suspects were captured by the CCTV cameras. Police also impounded the motorcycle they were using in the robberies.
The same group has been targeting motorists, including Uganda’s Defence Attaché in Belgium Brig Gen Moses Rwakitarate, at Lugogo Bypass.
Brig Gen Rwakitarate tweeted last week that thugs had snatched his mobile phone at the same spot.
A group of nine led by John Kaddu, a renowned repeated offender, that been terrorising residents in Mutungo and Kitintale in Nakawa Division were arrested.
One of their victims is Fahad Mukisa, whom they hit with an iron bar on the head before robbing him of his property.
In October this year, the same group is suspected to have attacked Central Police Station investigations commander and robbed his property as he was jogging in the morning in Mutungo.
