The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A new juvenile criminal gang known as “Dog tulumbe” is wreaking havoc in Nansana Municipality and parts of Northern Kampala. The gang members, aged between nine and 16 years, move in groups of five to seven targeting people with money and other valuables.
Victim accounts and Police statements show that the gangs operate along the Northern by-pass covering the Bwaise-Namungoona-stretch, Hoima Road, Nabweru-Bwaise areas and other suburbs in Nansana Municipality. They don white or black tracksuits.
Isaac Kizito, one of the victims of the gang operations, says he was surrounded by a group of youngsters one evening as he was slopping from Nansana market towards Nabweru. According to Kizito, the group asked him to surrender all his possessions at the time, and ‘go in peace’.
“It was a bad day, and I was left with only 5000 Shillings. I gave them the money. They searched me to establish whether I had hidden cash. One threatened to kick me but the elder one stopped him telling him that I had been genuine by giving all that I had,” he said.
An officer at Nansana Police Division told URN on condition of anonymity that police stations in the area record complaints of theft and assault involving youngsters each day.
He said the youngster’s target lady’s bags and phones from moving taxis and boda-bodas especially during rush hours when there is huge traffic along Hoima Road. The source said the gangs target pedestrians moving unaccompanied and assault whoever attempts to resist.
He added that attempts to trap the gang have so far yielded no fruits. “We tried to trace them using the recently installed CCTV cameras but in most cases we miss them. One time we set out to grab them from somewhere having been alerted on camera but they were seen crossing from a distant area,” he adds.
Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Patrick Onyango says they have teamed up with the army in the ongoing operation dubbed “Tokoora” a Kinyankole word loosely translated as “weed out” to trace and arrest criminal members in Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area.
He says they have intensified both covert and non-covert operations to bust the emerging criminal gangs, saying they can no longer allow gangs to rule the streets of Kampala.
“Dog tulumbe”, which is loosely translated as “Dog lets attack” in English isn’t the first criminal gang to terrorize Greater Kampala. A number of criminals have previously operated in various parts of Kampala and its neighborhood.
They include among others the famous Kifeesi, which was operating in Kampala and Mukono with bases in Katwe-Kinyoro, Bad Life, B13, XOI, Kasolo Boys, Happy Street and Naguru Arrow Boys. Most of the gangs were operating in slummy areas targeting business people returning from work.
Some of the gangs were busted by security giving residents a sign of relief.
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