Anti-Stock Theft Unit intercepts and recovers 229 cattle

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Mobile Police Unit and Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) intercepted 229 cows being transported in the wee hours of the night during the Christmas season.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said the herds of cattle intercepted in impromptu roadblocks had no movement documents.

“The cattle were being transported without proper documents and others were being transported in the wee hours of the night. These interceptions were done during our mobile checkpoints,” Enanga said.

ASTU in collaboration with Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has also recovered 221 cows out of the 300 stolen in Christmas week in the Karamoja sub-region. Enanga said the joint security team was alerted about the cattle thefts and immediately launched a hunt for the raiders.

Karamoja has been facing cattle raids since October 2020. The rampant cattle thefts forced President Yoweri Museveni to order for forceful disarmament exercise in July this year. This followed outcries of helpless Karamojong people whose cattle were being stolen by armed warriors and sometimes would first kill owners.

“We received information that 300 herds of cattle had been stolen and we have been able to recover 221 in a joint security operation in Karamoja. We have handed back the cattle to the owners. We were also informed about 277 goats stolen and we have already recovered 30,” Enanga said.

In the disarmament exercise that has lasted for over five months now, ASTU and UPDF have recovered 133 guns from Karamojong warriors. More than 500 suspected rustlers have been arrested and of these, close to 400 have been charged in the Court Martial.

Some cattle rustlers in Karamoja were previously recruited as Local Defence Unit (LDU) personnel but they deserted with guns and embarked on animal raids. Others according to security, picked guns from neighboring countries like Kenya and South Sudan.

In addition to the guns recovered, Enanga explains that ASTU and UPDF have recovered 1,268 bullets. At least for suspected rustlers were shot dead last week in Christmas operations. The Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) report for 2020 indicates that 15,629 animals were stolen.

But ASTU, UPDF, Crime Intelligence, and Flying Squad successfully recovered 5,782 while 9,847 were not recovered by the end of 2020. Police require a person moving an animal from one place to another to have a movement permit.

*****

URN