Theft of offertory on the rise- police

Kampala

Criminals who disguise as ushers have embarked on stealing church offertory, the police have said. Although the police have not yet compiled statistics of such crimes, they have described the situation as ‘worrying’.

Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Mr Ibin Ssenkumbi, said the latest incident happened on Sunday at All Saints Cathedral after a suspect was arrested allegedly carrying away offertory worth Shs340,000. “Every worshipper thought he was genuine since he had an identity card indicating that he was a cashier with the same church. But his luck ran out after he put the offertory bag in another bag,” Mr Ssenkumbi said. Several cases of theft have been reported at Christ the King Church, Namirembe Cathedral and several city mosques.

Stealing books
At Namirembe Cathedral, Kampala, two people were recently arrested on allegations of stealing books from the church. In Lubaga Division, suspected Muslim worshippers beat a man to death after they allegedly found him collecting shoes. These cases have made worship centres to devise new methods of avoiding the crime.

In many city mosques, worshippers carry polythene bags in which they put their shoes and enter with them, instead of leaving them at the door, as is the norm. The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council spokesman, Sheikh Nsereko Mutumba, said they recently arrested three people stealing shoes at the mosque. “There are people who pretend to be Muslims and come to the Mosque with intentions to steal shoes,” he said. Sheikh Mutumba said criminals leave cheap scandals at the entrance and take expensive shoes that are not theirs.

At Adventist Centre church in Makerere, worshippers are warned through messages on projectors to protect their property while in church. “...when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord,” a message from Job 2:1, was projected recently.