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Robbers shoot Gulu mobile money agent, abandon gun at scene
ASP David Ongom Mudong, the Aswa River Region Police spokesperson.
Police in Gulu City are hunting for assailants who shot and injured a mobile money operator on Wednesday evening.
Charles Mutabazi was shot at by the gunmen at around 8:30pm while arranging to close his shop on Acholi Road in Pece Quarters.
According to witnesses, the victim first engaged in a scuffle with the robbers who then fired at him before robbing him.
“Once they shot at him, they walked out and fired in the air towards the boda boda stage opposite the shop to disperse a sizeable crowd that gathered and they jumped on a parked motorcycle and fled the scene towards Pece Stadium,” Mr Sisto Okema, a boda boda rider, said.
Ms Phiona Oyella, who operates a shop next to Mr Mutabazi’s, told police that while he was preparing to close his shop, two unidentified men carrying a gun attacked him.
“The armed robbers attacked him and he struggled with them, prompting them to discharge bullets, injuring him. Eventually, they robbed all his eight agent machines of different banks and an unspecified amount of money before fleeing the scene,” she said.
Yesterday, police said the victim was taken to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital in critical condition.
“Police are closely hunting for the culprits who carried out the aggravated robbery, the incident was registered at Police vide SD Ref. 85/14/06/2023,” Mr David Ongom Mudong, the regional police spokesman, aid in a statement.
He said they recovered the gun allegedly abandoned by the robbers.
“Exhibits of evidential values were recovered from the scene, including a rusted AK47 riffle with an unclear number, a magazine with one ammunition and two cartridges. More inquiries at hand,” Mr Ongom said.
“We would wish to assure the business community that the police are closely following up on these culprits and soon they will be apprehended, we further advise those dealing in big sums of money to always consider closing early or employing security guards for their safety,” he added.
Trend
In the year 2022, 6,854 robberies cases were reported to police compared to 5,275 cases reported in 2021.
Simple robbery cases were 4,338 while aggravated robbery-complaints topped 2,516. By the end of 2022, of the total cases of robberies reported to police, 1,831 cases were taken to court, while 4,799 remained under inquiry.
