Suspect steals gun, escapes from custody

he man had been detained at the police post on allegations of stealing a motorcycle.

Police in Serere District are hunting for a suspect who sneaked out of his cell and stole a gun from a police officer’s house.
The man had been detained at the police post on allegations of stealing a motorcycle.

Police said they, however, recovered the gun abandoned at the doorstep of the chairperson of Kagwar Landing Site.

Mid-eastern Police Spokesperson Juma Nyende said they are still hunting for the suspect and would charge him for stealing a gun and escaping from lawful custody.

“The suspect wanted to cross to Busoga with the gun but we had deployed at the crossing so he decided to leave the gun at the LC’s home and took another route,” Mr Nyende said.

This is the second incident of a gun theft in a week. The first case was at Mpala Police Post in Entebbe.

Cases of gun theft and escaping of suspects from custody is a big challenge to the police, with most of the 2,000 police posts in the country in a sorry state.

At least 1,000 suspects escape from custody annually while 47 guns are stolen from security facilities in the same period.
Some of the suspects are detained in rented rooms that are meant to accommodate shops, while some do not have well-designed cells to keep the suspects.

abagala@ug.nationmedia.co