Two killed in foiled robbery

Military and other security operatives arrest one of the suspected robbers yesterday in Kololo, Kampala yesterday. Two others (in background) were killed in a foiled robbery. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI.

What you need to know:

After a tip off, police swung into action with a view planning how they could foil the robbery. The thugs had counted on a staffer who alerted his boss of the plan.

KAMPALA

A bank employee who was approached by suspected thugs to help rob company money, tipped his boss and foiled the robbery, which resulted into the killing of two suspects. One of the dead was identified as Zubair Tweheyo alias Abdul Kasekende but the other is yet to be identified.

A staff of Top Finance Bank, whose identity has been left out for safety reasons, had allegedly been approached by a boda boda cyclist in Lower Kololo, a Kampala suburb, who wanted to strike a deal with him to assist in the robbery of the company’s money by revealing to him the time when the funds are transported.
The suspected robber had promised the staffer a Shs50m reward if the mission was successful.

However, the staffer instead briefed his boss about the plot, who also passed the information to police.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Patrick Onyango said they organised and sent detectives to plan on how they could foil the robbery.

“Our detectives told him to get back to the boda boda cyclist and tell him that the money was being transported on Monday at 11am,” Mr Onyango said. The information reached the suspects who waited for the D-day.

The plan
At around 10:40am, police gave the manager Shs200m of fake money packed in a bag and another Shs100m of genuine cash was also put in the car and started to monitor that car there after.

“Just 90 metres away from the offices, the thugs blocked the manager’s car using another car and jumped out with an axe and a machete. They hit the window and picked the bags,” Mr Onyango said.

Police officers then came to arrest the suspects, who tried to escape but were both shot.

This is the second time police are foiling a robbery in four days, the most recent being in Busega, Kampala where last Friday, police shot five suspected robbers and arrested three others, who had been breaking into a supermarket.