Police bursts robbery racket at pine car bond

Kampala, Uganda  | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Flying Squad Unit has burst a racket of thugs operating at Pine Car Bond that targets people interested in buying vehicles.

The Flying Flying Squad Unit under the Command of Godwin Tugume together with Crime Intelligence under the command of Thomas Kasimo, launched a crackdown on the group after receiving complaints from several people indicating that they were robbed on their way to buy vehicles at Pine Car Bond or while returning after failing to agree on price with the sellers.

A reports by the Flying Squad and Crime Intelligence shows that the first victim of the robbery filed a complaint at Old Kampala Police Division last year under Station Diary –SD Ref: 74/03/12/2019. The second victim filed a case at Kira Division under SD Ref: 66/9/12/2019 while the last case was filed at Jinja Road Police Division vide CRB: 989/2019.

As a result, Tugume and Kasimo deployed informants at Pine Car Bond in December to monitor the activities taking place there. The Informants could eavesdrop on conversations and watch people following buyers leaving the car bond. One of the informant got wind of a plot by thugs to trail a prospective car buyer who had decided to return with his money after failing to strike a deal with the sellers.

The informant immediately passed on information to his superiors, who dispatched a team of police officers backed up by the Police Patrol Unit to wait for the thugs. The group was apprehended and locked up Kampala Central Police Station –CPS. Police Spokesperson, Fred Enanga says the suspects would trail their victims from the bank and rob them of their money whenever they would park.

“The suspects were identified to us by an informant who led a team of 999 Patrol Unit and Flying Squad to the location where the suspects were got, arrested and detained at CPS. The suspects were car dealers at Pine Car Bond,” Enanga said. 

Some of the cases opened at Old Kampala Police Division involved the robbery of Shillings 17 million, the one at Kira Division involved Shillings 15 million while the one at Jinja Road Division involved Shillings 5 million. Other than deploying informants, Enanga said police teams also relied on Closed Circuit Television –CCTV footage to monitor the movement of the vehicle the suspects were using to trail their victims.

Sources intimated to URN that police are investigating several other car bonds with criminal gangs similar to the one at Pine Car Bond. “These people also follow up the buyers who promise that they are going to withdraw money from banks. They park within the vicinity. They wait for the victim to jump on a Boda-boda and then rob them,” the source said.

According to the source, the thugs trail buyers who decide to return with their money and block them with vehicles or hit them in case they are riding on a motorcycle. This isn’t the first time Pine car bond is in the news for the wrong reasons. Just recently, its proprietor, Muhammad Ssebuwufu was convicted and handed a 40 year jail term for the murder of city businesswoman, Dona Katusabe.

The deceased businesswoman was kidnapped and tortured to death at Pine Car Bond when she had allegedly failed to pay Ssebuwufu a balance of Shillings 9 million for the car she had bought from the bond.

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URN