Thugs breaking into houses in broad daylight

Kampala. Authorities are looking for suspects after a series of broad daylight home break-ins in an affluent and heavily guarded neighbourhood that have left residents shocked.

The thugs are bold to the extent that presence of law enforcement officers does not scare them away. In the latest incident, a police officer on routine patrol confronted the men in the course of the robbery and they told him it was their house and they had only opened the gate to let their vehicle in.

The robbery happened on Wednesday afternoon at the home of Dr Ronald Jelly Onzima, a lecturer at Busitema University located in Naalya Housing Estate.
On the fateful day, Dr Onzima left his home on Katonga Drive, Naalya Cozy B Housing Estate for a meeting at Makerere University and it is this window that the thugs, according to eyewitness accounts, exploited.

He returned after 7pm and found that his valuables such as electronics that he had shipped from West Africa where he worked with the African Development Bank, had disappeared.
After breaking in and organising their loot, the five “young men” travelling in two cars, including a Dyna lorry, posed as house movers.

Dismus Abaho, the officer-in-charge of the newly established Naalya Police Station, who confronted the men during the robbery, blames the area residents, who he says live like “Europeans” and do not interact with their neighbours or even the police and some live alone with their houses unattended to when they travel. Dr Onzima’s wife is on holiday in Russia and was yet to replace his housekeeper.

He says he became suspicious after he found the house open but could not tell whether the men saying they are owners were actually the ones. He simply left without questioning them.
“We have tried to reach out to those [owners] through Mayumba Kumi [akin to neighbourhood watch) but they don’t attend our meetings. As police, we cannot have a police station at everyone’s home but we have tried to put systems. If I knew the gentleman who owns the home before, I could have asked more questions,” he said.

Another policewoman guarding the home of the Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Betty Amongi, which is next to Dr Onzima’s, said she heard loud banging from the house and moved from her station to find out what was happening. When she got closer, she had a car engine running and assumed Dr Onzima was at home with some workers. She returned to her station.
A neighbour on the opposite street told Saturday Monitor that she heard banging in the neighbourhood and also assumed Dr Onzima had hired builders to do some work at his house.

This reporter understands thugs broke into another house a few metres away from Dr Onzima’s and made off with unspecified items about three weeks ago, although Mr Abaho says the break-ins have reduced because of the heavy security presence.
In April last year, three blocks away from Dr Onzima’s home, another house was broken into during day and thugs made off with household items.

The owner narrated to Saturday Monitor how she was in the village and thugs took advantage of the absence of her son who had gone to university.
She attributes the rise in crime to the very many construction sites in the area, which she says thieves could be using to monitor what is going on in different homes.

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