IGANGA, UGANDA: Police in Iganga district have intercepted and arrested at least five people after finding them with suspected stolen meat at CMS, Bulamagi Sub-county along the Iganga-Jinja highway on Saturday evening.
The meat which was packed in a sack and loaded in a Toyota Premio was destined for Bugembe in Jinja district where the suspects allegedly had their potential buyer waiting, after stealing the cows from one Madondo, a resident of Nakilulwe village, Nawaningi sub-county in Iganga district.
The chairperson Nakilulwe village Mr Famba Abasi identified some suspects as Walusimbi Muhammad, a resident of Bugumba in Iganga, Mwamadi Kilevu, a resident of Nakilulwe, Makyika Hussein, a resident of Nawandyo in Iganga. Another one is Moses Suuna, who was arrested from his residence in Bugembe after reporting him to be the buyer of stolen meat from the suspects.
“I received a call at around 9 pm about theft of cows and we coordinated with police and managed to intercept them when they were taking the meat to Bugembe in Jinja. They had slaughtered the cow and packed the meat in a sack before loading it in a premio vehicle,” Mr Famba told DailyExpress.
He also urged locals to swiftly work with them when such incidents happen and also called upon security to investigate the matter and apprehend everyone in the gang. He says that it’s always disappointing to the public whenever such suspects are released without punishing them as expected.
“We urge people to always call us or the police to respond to such thefts and we call upon security to ensure that these people are punished as stipulated by the law. Sometimes these people are arrested and afterwards, the court releases them, and they end up making it a habit,” he added before noting that theft of animals has been on the rise in villages of Buwenda, Nakilulwe, and Nawaningi, among others.
The Resident District Commissioner(RDC) for Iganga, Mr Wandera Sadala confirmed the incident saying that police together with concerned citizens of Nakilulwe teamed up and made a roadblock at CMS and succeeded in apprehending the suspects.
He added that they managed to arrest the buyer of stolen meat from Bugembe in Jinja who reportedly pays 500,000/= for every cow taken to him.
“We managed to arrest five suspected cattle thieves on Saturday night who had stolen and slaughtered cows, and they were taking it to Bugembe in Jinja where they have someone they supply the meat at 500,000/= for every cow. It seems they steal cows from Iganga and the surrounding areas,” RDC Wandera said before urging owners of the cows to go and testify against the suspects in the courts of law.
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