WAKISO – A boda boda rider has accused police of not doing enough to arrest a man who was caught on s CCTV camera making off with his motorbike, having ambushed him on his way home.
Twenty-year-old Umar Yiga says his motorcycle was robbed on October 3 as he escorted his brother to his home in Bujuko, suburb in Wakiso District on the outskirts of Kampala.
Yiga claims that as he rode on the motorcycle with his brother Daudi Semukete, a thug emerged from the bush and hit the latter with an iron bar, forcing them off the bike.
He claims that the incident occurred at Masanafu. He adds that as he struggled to assist his unconscious brother, the thug made off with the bike.
Yiga said he had installed a tracking device in the bike which was connected to his phone but that as he mapped out the robber’s movements, he alerted police to arrest him, but that they did not help him.
He says the suspect rode through Lubiri as he tracked him on phone. He rode through Katwe Wansi Bridge to Nsambya, Mukwano road, Jinja road traffic lights, Shell Nakawa and to Namboole.
“The robber made a stopover around Owino Market in Kampala,” Mr Yiga narrates, adding that he then picked a policeman identified as Famba at a police post at Mengo next to Sanyu Babies Home.
Mr Yiga says when they reached Owino, they found his motorcycle parked along Kafumbe – Mukasa road with the engine running and he showed the policeman the motorcycle.
“I showed him my motorcycle and requested the policeman to shoot but he refused,” he adds.
According to him, the policeman fired two bullets at the fleeing robber but missed him and shot another bullet in the air.
Mr Yiga who was travelling on another hired motorcycle sought the assistance of a patrol car he found near the Kabaka’s palace at Lubiri to pursue the fleeing robber and when they reached Namboole, his phone run out of battery.
“When we followed the motorcycle in the patrol car, I kept asking policemen to communicate to their colleagues ahead to block the motorcycle but they did not,” Mr Yiga said.
When he charged his phone, the suspect had disabled the tracking device.
The suspect was last tracked to Satellite beach in Mukono before the tracking device was disabled.
After failing to get the culprit, the next day, Mr Yiga opened a case of aggravated robbery and theft of motorcycle at Gganda police station on CRB92/2019.
Mr Yiga said he went to the CCTV centre in Naguru where it was found that all the cameras where the suspect passed did not capture his face.
“They only managed to retrieve his picture from a camera near Satellite beach in Mukono,” Mr Yiga narrated. The same picture is being used to trace the suspect.
The Kampala Metropolitan, Deputy Spokesperson said that police was investigating the case and
“The person we had arrested following a tip-off was released because we found he did not match the person caught on CCTV,” Mr Owoyesigyire said.
He pledged that police would arrest the suspect with the help of the police.
