And police spokesman Fred Enanga has urged drivers to be vigilant at night. The gunmen swoop on a section of a deserted road at night, mount roadblocks, and flag down unsuspecting motorists. They rob them clean at gunpoint. The armed robberies have been reported mostly in Kyengera, Nsangi, Buloba, Kakerenge, Kalule, and other parts of the country.

Witnesses or victims have gory tales, detailing how their routine peaceful day turned violent. According to audio clips obtained by The Observer, victims say the criminality takes place in the wee hours of the night. On July 8, 2022, the former acting Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the eastern district of Bukwo, Charles Robert Ogwang was robbed, shot 26 times, and his car set ablaze at Kiryowa village along Bombo road.

VICTIMS NARRATE THEIR ORDEAL

According to an audio recording obtained by this paper, a victim, Farouk, said he ran into the ambush after dropping off a woman only identified as Abu’s wife in Maya off Kampala- Masaka highway. The assailants had mounted a roadblock around Maya off the highway.

They beat and robbed travelers of their belongings. Farouk said he got suspicious when he saw a truck parked by the roadside beaming its full lights at oncoming traffic. The moment he reached the roadblock, he said, the assailants jumped out of their hideouts and hit his car with an axe. They wanted to shatter his windscreen.

“I decided to reverse the car; the assailants ran after us. I later decided to drive past them. They hit my car, broke windscreens and I heard one cocking the gun. The other car occupant was telling me to stop. I said I can’t because these are thieves. I ran through the logs thrown into the road…,” he said.

He said as he struggled to maneuver through the roadblock, he saw other victims, the owners of the truck, timidly lying in the drainage channel. Farouk said he escaped and reported the matter to Maya police post.

“I told police the suspected robbers have a truck they are using with full lights to distract drivers. To my surprise, the police officer told me that those were victims as well. I wondered how the officer got to know that this truck doesn’t belong to robbers.”

Farouk said the police officer at Maya police post sought help from the officer in charge (OC) of Nsangi police. After waiting for over 45 minutes, Farouk said he drove to Nsangi police and got a patrol. Along the way, Farouk said, they found one of the occupants of the truck. He had been beaten badly. On approaching the roadblock, Farouk said the suspected robbers took off in a Toyota Hiace commonly known as the drone registration number UG 0301/G.

According to Farouk, police said the three thieves are UPDF officers and the other two are civilians who help them. He said the police didn’t shoot or arrest anybody. He urged people to be vigilant whenever they travel at night.

He said they take everything including shoes. In another audio recording, an unidentified victim said; “Members, whoever is online, kindly inform a friend. Don’t drive at night. I have just lost my daddy. I live in Munyonyo. My daddy was staying in Bombo. So at 1 am I decided to prepare myself to go and see him. I stay with my mother.”

He said he left Munyonyo at 1:30am for Bombo. He bumped into the armed uniformed robbers at Migadde after Matugga along Kampala-Gulu highway. They were busy robbing people, he said. He said he flashed full lights.

“I reversed at 100 kilometers per hour, a very huge distance. They were chasing me. They even fired bullets in the air.”

He managed to escape but was not so successful in warning other motorists not to proceed in the Miggade direction.

“…Please don’t drive at night. I drove due to unusual circumstances but I learnt the hard way, pleases tell a friend,”

“Fellow Ugandans, I want to caution you. Everyone, especially drivers should share this audio clip with their colleagues. This is all over the country; it is not only in Jinja, Kampala, Arua, and Masaka. We have been invaded by thugs wearing army uniforms. They steal everything,” another victim said in an audio recording.

“Last Wednesday, I was tipped off by a friend who said that in Kalule, UPDF thugs are robbing people of their belongings including phones. Because I knew the roads, I turned and went through Luweero, Kasana, and Kapeka. Armed robberies are rampant; the thugs are dressed in UPDF uniform and holding guns,” he said.

He said armed robberies are happening in Kyengera, Nsangi, Buloba, Kakerenge and Kalule. They mount roadblocks at 1 am and the incidents have happened three times.

UPDF REACTS

Interviewed for a comment, UPDF Spokesperson Brig. Felix Kulayigye said, “Those are criminals who have impersonated our uniform. We have arrested some of them with ranks of major, and captain yet they are civilians. Those criminals have since been tried in the General Court Martial.”

The army under the first division commander Maj Gen Sam Kawagga and police have deployed in the said areas to wipe out the criminals, he said.

POLICE’S REACTION

Interviewed, Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, said, “We arrested the driver of the government vehicle registration number UG 0301/G and a civilian. These two who we have are going to give us very good information about how they have been operating and who their colleagues are. Since their arrest, the investigations are ongoing and the cases of armed robberies have since gone down.”

“We have increased visibility in the identified areas in Kyengera and Bombo. We want to reassure the public that this issue is going to be handled. We always do not get much attention for the good work we do but we have arrested so many people along the Northern bypass, Nansana, Wakiso, and then Mukono; we are going to get these thugs,” Enanga added.

“We are still getting complaints about Kasangati-Matugga road. We intensified patrols in the identified areas and we will identify more offenders and ensure that we deter such incidents,” he said Enanga urged drivers to be vigilant at night, and make phone calls to relatives, neighbors, and friends to understand what is happening where they are.

In a July 11, 2022 statement published on the Uganda Police Force website, Enanga warned second-hand clothes dealers against selling camouflage clothing. The statement reads in part “As the Joint Security Agencies, we continue to receive concerns over the sale of camouflage clothing by dealers of second-hand clothes, especially to criminal-minded persons who are now using them for criminal purposes.

“In operations carried out in the hotspot areas of Kyengera, Busega, Nateete, Nansana, Nabweru, Kawempe. Makindye and Mukono, we have recovered camouflage clothes used by the criminal gangs for robbery. We are taking a tougher stance once persons are found wearing or dealing in camouflage clothes in public,” he said.

Enanga further announced that the directorate of Crime Intelligence had gotten information about increased threats towards private security guards who are being targeted for their firearms by criminals.

His statement reads in part, “Although we acknowledge the rapidly growing demand for private security, by property owners and other private citizens, we want to warn all owners and proprietors of private security companies, to enhance the safety of their personnel, by avoiding lone deployments and lone movements, while walking on foot or riding to and from their guard points. To individual private security guards, they should know that working as a security guard is a dangerous occupation.

Physical attacks like assaults are the leading cause of deadly security guard injuries. These occur at lone guard points and during lone movements. The best way to keep security guards safe is to equip them with the necessary tools and effectively deploy them in pairs at a minimum. This will enable them to work and go home safely at the end of their shift,” he said.

During a June 29, 2022 security meeting held in Mukono, a shoot-to-kill order was announced. At the function, Assistant Inspector General of Police Edward Ochom said, “We have been patient with these criminals including those who take part in an aggravated robbery. We are not going to sympathize with them anymore, enough is enough. I know amongst us here, these robbers have their agents. We are discussing security; they want to hear what we are discussing, now go and tell them that their days are numbered. …We are fed up with them.”

At the same function, UPDF’s Col Fred Mwesigye said, “We are going to kill them. We shall shoot and then investigate where the gun came from because they have numbers.”

In his July 16 opinion in the Daily Monitor, senior journalist Asuman Bisiika urged the police to expand the investigation into the armed robberies.

“…And if one were to stretch this further, even insurgents could use the façade of ordinary highway robberies to purvey their evil. That is why the state should take more interest in the recent spate of highway armed robberies. When we were still interested in the stuff of the kind, we found out that most of the cases of ritual human sacrifice were actually clean cases of murder. It just took a clever murderer to cut off the private parts of the victim to send the police investigations the wrong way,” Bisiika said.