What happens to stolen boda bodas?

Damiano Sekalala. Abdullah Nsubuga. Godfrey Nkata. Emmanuel Gatete. Tom Wamala. Not many Ugandans had heard of these names until a few days ago. The police say they were boda boda riders whose lives they claim were ended at the brutal hands of John Bosco Mugisha, alias Mukiga and Aloysious Tamale, alias Young Mulo.

These names came to the public domain after a disturbing video went viral on social media depicting Derrick Muwonge, another boda boda rider, being strangled and hammered to death. It is for this act that Mukiga and Young Mulo were arrested.

The duo on Thursday recorded extra-judicial statements before a magistrate in Mengo, Kampala, confessing to the killing of Muwonge.
Mr Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, told Saturday Monitor that Mukiga revealed to investigators that for each boda boda they robbed, he got paid between Shs300,000 and Shs500,000, depending on the state of the motorcycle. However, Mukiga may be just selling himself expensive, some accounts show. There are claims that some of the men who do the killing and robbing get paltry sums off the ‘deals’, bagging about Shs100,000 per motorcycle they deliver. The unanswered questions are: To who do they sell the motorcycles to? Who do they work for? How does the cycle look like?

ISO speaks out
Investigators found out that Mukiga had been in and out prison over other robbery cases. How does he manage to get out of prison? It suggests that there is a racket that is fueling the trade, and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) on Thursday threw some light in this direction.
Col Frank Bagyenda, aka Kaka, the ISO director general, told journalists that his outfit had arrested five ‘businessmen’, a police officer and a ‘defence secretary’ for a village in Katwe in Kampala over the killings and robberies of boda bodas.
Col Bagyenda named the ‘businessmen’, ‘defence secretaries’ and offered the force number for the policeman, who he paraded before the press. We withhold their identities for legal and professional reasons.

He said there are elements in the police who connive with other players to steal boda bodas that are impounded and taken to the police.
When suspects are arrested and detained at police stations, Col Bagyenda said the rogue officers ensure that the suspects are released on bond and disappear.
“These are small actors, we have not yet seen the big picture and that is why it is so hard to get these people because they are intertwined with other bigger forces,” Col Bagyenda said.

However, Mr Onyango denies claims that some police officers are profiteering from the robberies.
Mr Onyango said: “I am not aware of any police officer involved. And I have not come across any intelligence reports to that effect. We also do not sympathise with any suspect. Our cardinal duty is to investigate and take them (suspects) to court and if they are given bail, it is their constitutional right. Even bond is a constitutional right. It does not mean if a suspect gets a bond or bail, that the case is over. It has to continue.”

Mr Onyango said the police is considering using tracking devices which will be installed in motorcycles.
“Recently, the President said tracking devices must be installed in motorcycles. That is a long-term solution we are looking at.”
But Col Bagyenda said one of the ‘businessmen’ he paraded before the media used a policeman attached to the Fire Brigade unit to transport stolen boda bodas from Kampala to Arua, and onto the Democratic Republic of Congo. He said that particular ‘businessman’ stays in Arua, while the other four ‘businessmen’ are based in Mukono.

DR Congo as a destination for stolen boda bodas was mentioned by multiple other sources we interviewed, including policemen and boda boda riders.
A number of sources within the police talked about what they called a growing black market for motorcycles in DR Congo and South Sudan.

Intelligence sources say the robbers often target boda boda riders at places like sports betting spots. They study them for days, freely socialising with their intended victims as they place bets together. After creating rapports with them, the killers then ask the boda boda men to drop them at their homes and pounce on the riders along the way.

A Ugandan mechanic operating in South Sudan told Saturday Monitor that the racket involved in selling stolen motorcycles in South Sudan and DR Congo operates between Arua and Kampala.

He mentioned Arua Park in Kampala is their main transit route where stolen motorcycles are parked in big boxes after being dismantled into small parts and labelled as cargo destined for South Sudan.

At the Uganda- South Sudan border, the source said the racket has wide connections within the South Sudanese government, where some cargo can enter the country unchecked, especially for top officials. Sometimes, money exchanges hands to keep lips tight.

The source further said it is mainly the Bajaj model which has ready market in South Sudan, with a secondhand motorcycle sold for 150,000 and 200,000 South Sudanese pounds, an equivalent of about between Shs4m and 5m respectively. A new Bajaj costs 250,000 pounds (about Shs7m).

The source also said sometimes if a motorcycle has not been dismantled, it is hidden under heavy luggage in trucks heading to DR Congo. In Congo, the motorcycles end up at a place called Ariwara, where they are sold.

According to a boda boda cyclist, who operates on Entebbe road, some of the motorcycles stolen in the outskirts of Kampala are dismantled from Katwe, a city suburb, and sold as spare parts.

He said sometimes the motorcycles are sold for as cheap as Shs500,000 to spare part dealers in Katwe.

How motorcycle robbers operate

Kampala Metropolitan South police records indicate that they have arrested at least five notorious suspects, who were actively involved in the numerous killing of boda boda riders and subsequent robberies of their motorcycles.

Police said the gang leader deploys his members at specific locations, where they jointly attack and kill their victims. On other occasions, the assailants hire a boda boda rider, whom they attack and kill. Their victims are randomly selected.

The modus operandi of motorcycle robbery rackets sometimes involves businessmen, notorious robbers and middle men. Young energetic men with notorious criminal records are paid to do the dirty job of waylaying and killing the motorcyclists.

After getting their loot, they hand the bike over to the middle man, who then sells it either within the country or other countries.

Police further explained that the thugs use a combination of techniques, including the “honey pot” trick, which involves using women.

The women suddenly appear in the road looking desperate to attract sympathy from their targeted victim, before leading them to the killers.

Others use handkerchiefs laced with chloroform, which they squeeze around a boda boda rider’s nose before he blacks out.
“Motorcycles stolen from within Kampala are sold upcountry and outside and those stolen upcountry are sold within Kampala,” a security operative said.

The boda boda industry, especially within Kampala, lacks a common association. At least every small boda boda stage at any junction within Kampala and surrounding areas form small leadership groups.

A police officer said since Boda Boda 2010 patron Abudala Kitatta was arrested and charged before being sent to prison, most people in the business have remained paranoid to any idea of forming a bigger association.

The cases

Motorcycle theft. According to the 2018 police crime report, at least 13 motorcycles are stolen in Kampala and surrounding areas every day, and 95 per cent of them are never recovered. The report indicates that at least 5,000 motorcycles were stolen in 2018. It is not clear how many boda boda riders were killed in the process of robbing them of their motorcycles.
Katwe Division in Kampala registered the highest number of boda boda robberies, with a total of 90 cases, followed by Kira Road Division (67 cases), Old Kampala Division (60 cases), Wandegeya and CPS Kampala Divisions (51 cases each), Jinja Road Division (49 cases), Kabalagala Division (45 cases), Kawempe Division (41 cases), Jinja (40 cases). Kira Road Division and Mbale (36 cases each), while Mukono Division registered 35 cases.

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