Residents decry livestock theft

NTUNGAMO. Residents and leaders in Ntungamo District have decried the rampant livestock theft in the area.
Speaking to Daily Monitor on Monday, the district police commander, Mr Damien Katwesiime, revealed that 114 cases of stolen goats and cattle were reported between December and this month.
Fifty cases were registered in December while 64 cases have been reported since January.
Mr Katwesiime said the stolen livestock are mostly taken and sold in Kabale District and neigbouring Rwanda.
“We have discovered that goats are transported in small vehicles using rural roads to avoid traffic check points to a collection centre in Kabale where they are sold,” Mr Katwesiime said.
According to Mr Katwesiime, the UPDF soldiers in Kabale last week intercepted a vehicle carrying 18 stolen goats, and arrested four people.
He added that from December 23 to December 28, 2018, 11 goats were stolen from a farm in Ngoma Sub-county, 10 others from Nyeihanga Sub-county and 19 goats from a farm in Nyakyera Sub-county .
A total of eight goats were stolen from a farm in the neigbouring Kebisoni Sub-county in Rukungiri District.
Several goats and 14 cows have been stolen from Mr Bob Kabonero’s farm in Nyakyeera Sub-county.
Mr Katwesiime said the four suspects are from Masaka, Ntungamo and Rukungiri, and are helping in police investigations.
“We are hunting their accomplices; these that were arrested have confessed that they were involved in the theft and have revealed their colleagues,” Mr Katwesime said.
The Resident District Commissioner, Mr George Bakunda, has appealed to the community to get involved in fighting livestock theft.