Robbers Abandon Gun in Masindi

By URN

Masindi police have recovered a gun that is believed to have been used to terrorize residents in the area for a long period. The SMG riffle registration number UGPSO 564210771 was recovered from Kayom village in Miirya sub-county on Tuesday night.

It is reported that three suspected robbers invaded the village at around 11:30 pm on Tuesday to rob residents. Residents became suspicious upon seeing the three strange people and sounded an alarm prompting the thugs to flee.

Residents pursued the thugs prompting one of them to drop the gun they had in their possession. The residents immediately alerted Masindi police who swiftly rushed to the area and picked the gun. Julius Hakiza, the Albertine region police spokesperson, says that the hunt for the suspects is ongoing. He applauded the residents for the high level of vigilance exhibited, adding that members of the public should always be security conscious to detect any wrong elements in their areas.

This is not the first gun to be recovered in the Albertine region by security.  In May this year, police in Hoima recovered a gun belonging to the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) in a foiled robbery. The AK47 rifle, registration number UPDF 767183, with 30 rounds of ammunition was recovered when a suspected robber raided a mobile money agent identified only as Eunice operating along Main Street in Hoima City and attempted to rob her.

The suspected robber disguised as a client and approached the mobile money agent, but before they could execute any transaction, the mobile money agent became suspicious and sounded an alarm that attracted residents. The robber reportedly took off abandoning a bag he had in his possession containing the gun.

Residents immediately alerted the police, who immediately rushed and picked up the gun. In December 2022, the police in the Albertine Region recovered a gun that was stolen from a private security guard in Hoima City.  The rifle registration number UG Pol 303-65933107928 was recovered with two rounds of ammunition while hidden in a culvert in Bulindi village, Kyambigambire Sub-County, Hoima District.

The gun was reportedly robbed by Eunice Kobusingye, 28, a private security guard from Uganda Securiko Company Limited on November 28th, 2022.  She had been deployed to guard Kaaka Spare World Shop along Wright Road in Hoima City when the thugs reportedly raided the shop and took off with the gun.

Preliminary police investigations then indicated that the guard was asleep at the time the thugs raided the shop. In the same month, the Police Flying Squad in the Albertine recovered a gun and arrested four suspects in Kikuube. The gun registration number URJ3106 was recovered from the Nkondo Landing Site in Kabwoya Sub-county, Kikuube District.

The suspects arrested on accusations of illegal possession of the firearm were then identified as Hassan Isingoma, 20, John Kabagambe, 38, Doreen Bammuhiiga, 17, all residents of Ntoroko, and Rashid Byaruhanga, 19, a resident of Kyenjojo.  They were arrested after the police received intelligence that they had a gun that they were using to rob residents in the area.

When the Flying Squad operatives raided the area, they recovered an AK 47 rifle registration number URJ3106 from the suspects while at the landing site. The gun did not have any rounds of ammunition at the time it was recovered.