By Douglas Mubiru
The Police in Jinja district have confirmed the arrest of four people allegedly behind the theft of motor vehicle number plates.
According to the Police, the criminal gang has been targeting mainly the Indian business communities of Jinja city, Jinja district, Iganga, Namutumba and Tororo district in Busoga sub-region and eastern corridor generally.
“The criminal gang, after stealing number plates, were asking for money to be sent via mobile money on 0771491993 and 0703932528. We have since established that the above telephone numbers belonged to a one Hussein Kato, who died sometime back,” said James Mubi, the Kiira Region Police spokesperson.
He said through their experts, they tracked down the culprits successfully and arrested the ring leaders, identified as Simon Olowo and Alex Macho, all residents of Tororo district.
“We have also arrested a retired ICT secondary teacher George Ogutti, 62, who has been at the strategic level of planning for the group like drafting a 10-year plan for stealing motor-vehicle number plates,” Mubi stressed.
He said Ogutti has also been behind typing and printing the threatening letters or leaflets that they leave behind after stealing number plates from residential homes, parking places and factories.
“We have conducted a thorough search at the premises of the retired teacher and exhibited laptop, monitor, printer, and documents to that effect,” Mubi noted.
Mubi also said they had arrested Stephen Mugabe, who is said to have been keeping the stolen number plates, adding that they managed to recover two number plates (UBE 518B and UBL 287G) from a banana plantation on Gabula road in Jinja city.
“The operation is still ongoing to arrest more culprits and recover more stolen number plates,” added Mubi.
