Two bombs recovered in Luweero
The suspected explosive recovered by children in a bana plantation in Lukooge village Luweero District on June 12, 2019. PHOTO BY DAN WANDERA
LUWEERO. The Anti-terrorism squad of the Uganda Police Force on Wednesday night safely detonated an abandoned grenade and secured another from two different places in Luweero District.
A tortoise grenade believed to have been abandoned for years at Lukooge village in Katikamu Sub-county was detonated by a team from the Uganda Police Force at 7.20pm after it was recovered by children believed to have unsuccessfully tried to sell it to scrap dealers near Wobulenzi Town but were reportedly discouraged by an elderly woman who convinced them to abandon the deal.
According to Ms Rebecca Ayeta, the Acting Luweero District Police Commander, the police quickly secured the explosive from the residents who had earlier reported the suspicious metallic object.
“The Police Anti-terrorism squad detonated the grenade after securing the area. We thank the residents who notified the police of the suspicious object which turned out to be a grenade. We had earlier in the day recovered and safely secured another grenade at Wanfufu village in Kamira Sub-county,” Ms Ayeta said on Thursday.
Katikamu Sub county LCIII Chairperson, Mr Umal Kyagulanyi said the recovered bomb could be part of the war material abandoned during the bush war guerrilla war of the early 1980s.
“This is not the first time we are recovering explosives that are believed to have been abandoned by either the National Resistance Army (NRA) guerrilla forces or the government forces during the five-year liberation war of the early 1980s. We are lucky that many of our people are war veterans and have knowledge of some of the war material including the bombs,” Mr Kyagulanyi said on Thursday.
Mr Steven Kabogoza, the Lukooge Local Council One Defence Secretary said the grenade had been handled by different people who picked it from children who had planned to sell it as scrap.
“When you interview the residents here, they will inform you that that object has been handled by several people who didn’t know it was an explosive. We are lucky that it later landed in the hands of people who are veterans and had knowledge of some of the war material. The children recovered this object under a banana plantation and had planned to sell it as scrap material. I believe the size of the object greatly discouraged them because it looked very small and rusty,” Mr Kabogoza said.
