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Gunmen rob supermarket, police review CCTV footage
Monitoring. Police officers review CCTV cameras at the control centre in Nateete, Kampala. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
The President also ordered training of Local Defence Unit personnel to carry out patrols in the city suburbs to ensure security and stop such criminals.
Kampala. Police are reviewing CCTV footage in a bid to identify six armed thugs who robbed a supermarket and killed a guard on Saturday.
The thugs, riding motorcycles without number plates, used a sub-machine gun and a pistol to rob an unspecified amount of money from the supermarket and a Shs4.5m from a nearby Mobile Money shop in Mpererwe, a Kampala suburb.
They also shot Pilson Okot, a guard at the supermarket, who later died of gunshot wounds at Mulago Hospital. The thugs also shot and injured a motorist, who attempted to block them as they fled the scene.
The Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesperson, Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, said they are investigating the incident.
“The suspects were captured by the supermarket CCTV camera. The detectives have the footage and they are analysing it,” Mr Owoyesigyire said yesterday.
This is the first incident where armed thugs have used motorcycles without number plates to carry out attack in Kampala since the shooting of former Buyende District Police Commander Muhammad Kirumira in Bulenga in September last year.
After Kirumira’s killing, President Museveni deployed the army in Kampala Metropolitan area to check such criminals.
Government efforts
The President also ordered training of Local Defence Unit personnel to carry out patrols in the city suburbs to ensure security and stop such criminals.
He also ordered the installation of CCTV cameras in Kampala, a strategy, he said, would eliminate armed criminals. Although there are police CCTV cameras in Mpererwe, Mr Owoyesigyire said they have not been connected to the regional monitoring centre.
“The works are still ongoing in that area as you were told by State minister [Internal Affairs] Obiga Kania in Parliament recently. The police CCTV cameras in that area are not functioning yet,” he said.
Police attempts to pursue the robbers were fruitless.
Last week, police warned of increasing cases of armed robbery targeting Mobile Money agents and shops. On April 9, armed thugs waylaid Isma Magomu, a Mobile Money agent in Nakaloke Central Cell, Mbale District, and robbed him of Shs5.8m and several items. They shot him and the cyclist who was carrying him.
RECENT CASES
April 9. Armed thugs attacked Betty Nampira in Nansana West I Village in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District, and robbed her of Shs3.3m.
April 7. Armed men attacked Moses Mugisha, a Mobile Money agent at Mpongo Trading Centre in Kakumiro District, and robbed him of Shs1.3m. The suspects shot and injured two other people.
