Police in Gulu are holding four people suspected to have stolen relief items that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had planned to donate to refugees in the West Nile sub-region.
The items, estimated to cost Shs 25 million, included 40 blankets, 10 plastic tents, five mosquito nets and several kitchenware sets. The suspects, whose names are still withheld for fear of distorting the ongoing investigations, were arrested after tip-off from one of the residents.
Police officers nabbed the suspects while they were already selling the stolen items to locals in Layibi division, next to Gulu mosque along Acholi road. The Gulu district police commander, Martin Okoyo, revealed that they have information indicating that the suspects have for a long time been receiving the stolen items through an official from refugee settlement camps in Adjumani.
“We don’t want to reveal their [suspects] names for now because we may miss out on the bigger fish who are behind the supply of these items to these people”, he said. “Once we get them, all the suspects will be charged with theft at once as the law states.”
Aswa regional police spokesperson Patrick Jimmy Okema said they are now undertaking an intensive investigation into the matter. He said they are working closely with the UN personnel and police in West Nile.
In a telephone interview with The Observer, Titus Jogo, the UN refugee desk officer, expressed worries over the sharp rise in theft of refugee items, with women-headed families and the elderly being the biggest victims.
“We receive theft cases items every day, especially in Pagirinya refugee settlement. Most of the people whose fall prey of theft are the vulnerable ones who can’t protect their properties,” he said.
By October 2016, at least 202,780 refugees had been re-settled in Adjumani in West Nile following the resumption of war in South Sudan between President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar.
According to UNHCR, more than 85 per cent of the refugees currently arriving in Uganda are women and children under 18 years of age who lack proper shelter, food and health facilities among other basic needs.
Meanwhile, police in Gulu have arrested a 38-year-old male refugee identified as Lawrence Severio Nyeko in connection to the murder of Fredrick Apidra, a South Sudan national.
Apidra, a teacher from Magwi in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatorial province, was found dead in Rom village in Omoro district on Sunday. Aswa regional police spokesperson, Patrick Jimmy Okema, he said Nyeko, who is now in custody, is suspected to have information regarding Apidra’s death.
He said the deceased was found dead with documents containing the suspect’s name. Nyeko claims that he stopped in Rom village to buy airtime, at the very place where the deceased was killed.
“We are suspicious that he might know something about the death of this man because he says that while he was travelling to Gulu, he stopped to buy airtime at the very junction where the dead body was dumped,” he added.
Last year, a total of 128 murder cases were recorded in Gulu before Omoro district was carved out of the region’s largest district.
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