Police on arrest spree as three Kampala gangs unite

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Police Flying Squad has arrested ten members of another criminal gang that has been terrorizing parts of Kampala Metropolitan area.

The suspects were arrested following an attack on Enock Turasingura, a pay way machine technician and resident of Salama Road in Makindye Division in Kampala over the weekend.

The thugs attacked Turasingura along Jinja Road on Saturday on his way home from his work station at Forest mall Lugogo. His attack was captured on the security CCTV system prompting the police operatives to intervene and arrest Sula Kavuma, one of the suspects who was cornered along Nsambya road.

His seven accomplices escaped with the victim’s belongings. Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, says that this prompted police to conduct operations in Nansana Kiboloka and Natete with the help of Kavuma leading to the hideout of other gang members. Enanga explains that the criminal gang comprises 50 members some of who belonged to the former Kifeesi and Kasoro gangs.

They teamed up with another gang from Natete known as greens to form a new gang known as “Natis” with their operation bases in Natete and Nansana. Some of the gang leaders that were arrested include Meddie Ssemanda alias Meddie brown and Abdul Swabulu Mulindwa alias Malevu, both residents of Nansana East.

The two have reportedly been deploying youth gang members on different roads in Kampala to trail unsuspecting victims from Banks, mobile money shops and offices, while others would waylay pedestrians and motorists along different roads.

The other suspects are Ali Jumba of Nsumbi Wakiso, Denis Mulema, Yakub Kilidde, Martine Kazibwe, Hassan Nsubuga, Ivan Ssekatte and Ssegawa Mukisa. Enanga explains that the operations are still ongoing to arrest other suspects in Kawempe and Makindye divisions.  He says that the suspects have been engaging in martial arts training to gain skills to attack their victims.

John Kakande, the chairperson of Namugoona A says that the fresh attacks in Namungoona, Busega and parts of Nansana are more worrying. He says the groups target pedestrians, motorists, and revellers mostly on weekends.

“We still have machete-wielding thugs that attack and kill innocent people, and now there are these new groups of youth gangs on roads and other places. The thugs beat those who resist surrendering their belongings,  they break into people’s cars during functions. Unfortunately, the Police haven’t done much to stop these kinds of incidents,” Kakande said.

One of the recent victims of the Nansana-Nabweru attacks, Innocent Rukundo says that he was attacked by three thugs when she got stuck in a traffic jam on the Namungoona-Busega road around 7:00 pm last week. In her statement at Old Kampala Police Division, Rukundo said the men smashed her windscreen with stones and forcefully took her bag containing Shillings 5million and other belongings.

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A number of criminal gangs have previously operated in various parts of Kampala and its neighbourhood. They include among others the famous Kifeesi, which was operating in Kampala and Mukono basing 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 sigh of relief.