A 12-month report on the recent wave of car robberies has stunning results with the police Flying Squad blaming the Special Operations Unit within the force as well as the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.
A new report by the police's Flying Squad has found that police officers and intelligence agents are involved in the escalating car thefts in the country. Most officers implicated in the car robberies are from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and police Special Operations Unit (SOU).
The Flying Squad is the police's violent crime crack unit, while the SOU was formed two years ago to handle special assignments from police chief Kale Kayihura. SOU is commanded by Senior Superintendent of Police Nixon Asingwire. Efforts to reach him were futile as his official mobile phone number could not go through.
Toyotas are the most sought-after vehicles and, according to the report seen by The Observer, they include the Prado TX, Harrier, Mark II and Premio. They are sold in DR Congo and South Sudan. Police spokesman Fred Enanga could not comment on the issue and says he is yet to officially receive the report.
But Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Herbert Muhangi, the commander of the Flying Squad, told The Observer at Kampala Central police station (CPS) on Monday that his team has recovered more than 100 cars stolen between June last year and this June both within and across the border.
"There is a slight increase in motor vehicle robberies compared to the previous year," he said, adding that most cars are robbed at gunpoint.
More than 80 cars, he said, have been reclaimed by their rightful owners and 10 are still unclaimed and are still parked at CPS, Kampala.
"Many of the unclaimed cars had their owners either murdered by robbers during the robbery or robbers changed engine numbers and serial numbers and owners could not easily identify them basing on documents," he said.
"After stealing cars, robbers change their bodies, engine, serial numbers and they [cars] look new and when we recover such vehicles, it becomes hard for the original owner to identify them because everything on that car looks new and we cannot hand it over to anybody," Muhangi said, adding that after six months, such vehicles are sold by public auction.
Muhangi also revealed that more than 60 suspects including security officers have been arrested and taken to court. More than 20, he said, have been released on bail.
"Courts sometimes frustrate our work; we arrest suspects with evidence but when we take them to court, they bribe their way out and they again do the same job," he said.
GPS THE WAY TO GO
He said the crackdown on car robberies across the country is ongoing and by next year, fewer cars will be stolen. He urged car owners to install the Global Positioning System, GPS, in their cars to help police track them faster.
"GPS is very cheap and it helps police to track the car when it is stolen because it shows all the movements," he said.
Recent reports have shown that security officers are the biggest robbers of cash, and more than 100 were charged in the general court martial and other courts.
Unlike other branches within the police structure, the SOU reports directly to Gen Kayihura and is in charge of operations around Dr Kizza Besigye, the incarcerated former presidential candidate.
However, sources familiar with their operations intimated to The Observer that SOU personnel tend to be idle when the political atmosphere is calm or when Besigye is out of the picture like it is at the moment.
"They [SOU] operate with impunity because they don't report to anyone else apart from Kayihura," the source said. "Even other police units envy them but during the dry season [when there is little activity], some wrong elements within SOU turn to crime as a way of fending for themselves."
On Monday, police in Mbarara arrested one Isaac Segawa, a police officer attached to the SOU. Segawa, the driver of the special police van that normally whisks away Dr Besigye during arrest, was implicated by suspects linked to the robbery of a vehicle belonging to a UPDF officer.
Last week, police in Kampala arrested another SOU operative Albert Muhumuza for shooting and injuring Henry Kakooza, a KCCA employee. Muhumuza is best known as the leader of the team that prowls around Dr Besigye. On June 16, he fired shots during a scuffle in the city centre and one of the bullets got Kakooza's neck.
SOU is also said to be in charge of the notorious Nalufenya police station where many political prisoners are detained. Dr Besigye has been there a number of times and most recently the Nakawa MP and FDC stalwart Michael Kabaziguruka as well as some FDC youth.
(See: Defiance campaign protesters held in Nalufenya, The Observer May 11, 2016).
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