Man who wrestled armed robbers, recovered police gun wants reward

Residents of Kawoko Village in Butenga Sub County, Bukomansimbi District on Tuesday morning recovered a gun from armed robbers who attacked the home of one Boniface Mutyaba.
It is alleged that the robbers who were armed attacked the home of Mr Mutyaba and dug a hole in the wall to gain access to his living room where they took off with shs1m and two mobile phones.
According to the victim, he heard an alarm from one of his children who was sleeping in the living room and he quickly emerged from his bedroom only to see two men wearing uniforms and boots similar to those of Uganda Police Force.

“I immediately pounced on the attackers, pushed them outside and in the ensuing melee, they forgot their gun behind, I started throwing stones at them while making an alarm which attracted my neighbours who swiftly came to our rescue ,” Mr Mutyaba narrated to this publication on Thursday.
According to him, the Shs1 million which the robbers took, was meant to pay school fees for his children.

However, Mutyaba condemned the police's action of taking the gun immediately after the incident and left his family without security.
“What if the attackers  return to pick their gun and cause harm to me? , when they[police ] came at 4am, they never left any security personnel to protect my family , but returned at 2pm to do a search at my house without even helping me to rebuild the hole which was dug by their men,” Mr Mutyaba said.

Residents said there was a need for the government to award the victim for recovering a police gun.
“Those attackers could have used the same gun to kill a number of people in different areas but Mutyaba managed to save lives by snatching it from them. We ask President Museveni to come out and him for his bravery,” said Mr Issa Nsubuga, a resident of Butenga.  

He said residents are worried over increasing insecurity in the area.
 “We ask the Police authorities to investigate their officers in Bukomansimbi because it is possible that some took part in that robbery. They should also consider opening up a police post in Kawoko due to the increasing insecurity in the area,” she said.

Southern Regional Police Spokesperson, Mr Twaha Kasirye said the recovered gun had been stolen from one of their officers, Cpl Jimmy Obia, attached to Kyabi police post in the neigbouring  Sembabule District.
“It [gun ] was stolen on March 29 this year and we arrested the owner  and another officer identified as Christmas Maseruka before charges were preferred against them ,” Mr Kasirye said.
According to the police publicist, the gun was recovered with all its 29 rounds of ammunition.
“It seems the attackers did not know how to use the gun because none of the ammunition was used,” he added.

Masaka Sub-region has a history of armed robbers and machete-wielding assailants who attack residents at night, sometimes injuring or hacking them to death.
Between July and September 2021, machete-wielding thugs struck the area   killing at least 26 people, mostly elderly persons and injuring some 14 others. The attackers who were hitting their victims with blunt objects on the head, used to strike between 8pm and 6am, taking advantage of the curfew.

Between 2017 and   2018, at least 30 cases of murder and robbery were registered in the same sub region and up to 50 others were hospitalized in Lwengo, Rakai, Kalungu and Masaka districts. Police managed to find over 100 suspects in connection with these murders although half the number were released after police failed to produce   incriminating evidence against them in court.
In some instances the attackers first dropped anonymous leaflets threatening to kill or harm individuals.