City’s dreaded spots where thugs torment victims

The clock is ticking 9:12pm and traffic builds up at Lugogo-Naguru junction traffic lights. A young man walks majestically across the road, heading towards a taxi that had stopped at the traffic signal.

One passenger seated near a window spots the young man and alerts colleagues on the other side that a suspicious boy is moving round the taxi and windows should be closed. But before the last passenger could close the window, the boy struck like an eagle and attempted to grab the passenger’s phone, but the owner held firm.

This was not an isolated incident. It happens every day. Since the installation of the traffic lights at the junction, the place has become a hot spot for thieves. Marauding jobless young men target valuables from motorists held up by the traffic lights.

The thugs lurk on either side of the road monitoring their targets to choose the right moment to strike. And when they do, they swiftly dash through the spaces between the vehicles and disappear.

If they miss their targets, they leisurely walk to a safe observation point to watch whether they are being followed or wait for the next target.
The stretch between the Lugogo Bypass traffic signal, through Naguru, to stretcher has become a dark spot due to the thugs.

Other spots
Other spots where they waylay victims are Mbuya, Spear Motors, Kinawataka, Mutungo, Luzira, Kasokoso and Kiwatule, all in Nakawa Division.
Local leaders say the group comprising mostly juveniles is causing residents sleepless nights and are a nightmare to travellers.

Mr Ronald Nsubuga Balimwezo, the Nakawa Division mayor, says they believe the juveniles mainly aged between 14 and 18 are being recruited by an organised gang who use them to carry out the daring attacks that often leave the victims seriously injured and robbed of their valuables.

“They target isolated places in areas where traffic jam builds up, they carry paving stones, weighing stones and others ride on motorcycles. They smash windscreens of vehicles to grab smart phones,” Mr Balimwezo said.
“In most instances, they hit and shatter the heads of their victims before they run away,” he added.

He said from the reports they have received, the teenage gangsters target mainly smart phones and women’s handbags.
He suspects there are people who sponsor these boys to steal the items for them.

When Daily Monitor visited the aforementioned black spots yesterday, Local Council officials confirmed the marauding teenage criminals and wondered where they come from.

“Last Thursday, they broke into eight houses and carried out door to door robberies but nobody heard them. We suspect they used chloroform. Whenever we try to arrest their members, they revenge badly by beating up more people,” said.
Mr Andrew Ssemwanga, a member of the Mutungo, Kitintale local security committee which patrols the area at night.

He said the gangsters operate clandestinely. Sometimes the security committee patrols the village until 2am and they do not see the gangsters but once they retire, the gangsters strike.

“They hide the weighing stones under their armpits and when they hit you, you may think it is a punch but they use those stones to destabilise you as they run away,” Mr Balimwezo said.

He revealed another scheme the gangsters use to recce their victims. He said at night they climb trees as observatory points. As the unsuspecting victims approach their trap, they jump down and pounce on them and take off with the valuables.

Mr David Musoke, a former Local Council vice chairman for Mutungo III Zone said last Friday that his neighbour who owns a shop next to his house, fell a victim to the gangsters as he crossed the swamp between Kasokoso and Kinawataka.

He lost shoes and mobile phones to the thugs who also injured him. At the same place during the Christmas season an unnamed soldier was attacked by the gangsters.

Mr Stanley Ssengendo, the chairman of Mutungo Local Council Zone III, said they have arrested the gangsters on several occasions and taken them to police, but they are always released back into the community.

He said police claim they are too young to be kept in cells. He added that in some cases the local leaders trace their parents but parents do not want to see their children again because they ran away from home.

“There is one we got recently and tried to reunite with the mother but she said she did not want to see him again because he had disappeared from home four months ago and she did not want to know anything about him,” Mr Ssengendo said.

Black spots
Mr Issa Tabaro Kavuma, the secretary for defence in Mutungo Local Council II, said his jurisdiction covers 13 zones, but has many black spots where thugs hide.

He named Kintu Road up to Bikere Zone as the most notorious place. He also cited the area near Wasisi Bar in Zone 9, areas around Tents for You, Mukiyaga, Bogota, Mirambo playground, Giza Giza and Kasokoso-Kiganda where the gangsters smoke marijuana and consume other drugs during day and night.

“We are planning to set up village security committees in every zone to coordinate the security in the 13 zones in this parish,” Mr Kavuma said.

Measures
On Monday police arrested up to 10 suspects involved in the latest attacks.
The police spokesperson said they would continue using the surveillance footages from CCTV Cameras installed in some places to track the criminals.
The above hot spots for thugs in Nakawa add to the long list of other risky spots in the city that include Clock Towers, Kibuye roundabout and Northern Bypass.