Two suspected robbers were
Saturday evening shot dead at Opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye’s Total fuel
station in Nsambya, a Kampala suburb.
Opposition strongman, Dr Besigye said the two were shot by security officers in
civilian attire as their vehicle was being fuelled by the pump attendants.
“What I have been informed is that some vehicle came and parked at the lower
side of the fuel station. And at some stage, a person came out of that vehicle
and alerted our staff who were on the forecourt here that something may happen
here and that they should remain calm. He went back to the vehicle but they
(staff) did not know what it was all about. A while later, another vehicle came
to the forecourt parked there and asked for fuel for Shs20, 000 and paid. But
as they were trying to fuel that vehicle, men emerged from the vehicle that had
been parked down there with guns. They were in civilian attire,” Dr Besigye
told NBS TV.
He said the armed men shot at the two occupants of the vehicle that was being fuelled.
“They came and
attacked the people who were in the vehicle that was being fuelled. They shot
one dead inside the vehicle. The other one jumped out of the vehicle and tried
to run but he was also shot. Later on, they took the bodies away,” added the
former presidential contestant.
“It is reported that they had had intelligence that the ones who were shot were
part of a robbery plan that was intended to rob the fuel station. This is the
preliminary information that I have. I have not yet talked to people that were
involved in the operation. The station was then sealed off. There were many
security people here including those from the military, police and other
security agencies.”
Deputy Kampala Metropolitan area police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire confirmed the incident and noted it was a security operation.
“It was an intelligence led operation by police Flying Squad where two suspected robbers were shot at, one arrested and gun recovered,”Owoyesigyire told the Nile Post.
He noted more details will be communicated later as investigations go on.
The incident comes at a time when security is trying to dismantle a network of armed thugs who have been terrorizing the city by robbing mobile money points and later shoot dead the employees.
On Friday, a joint security team led four suspects to the crime scene of the robbery and subsequent murder of two mobile money dealers in Zzana.
The four suspects including Stanley Mulunda alias Frank Jjumba Ssalongo was arrested before in another operation, Emma Onechan , Denis Mangusho both UPDF soldiers and another unidentified boda boda rider who were arrested after a raid at an apartment in Masanafu led detectives through the details of how they executed the robbery in Zzana.
The armed thugs who were travelling on motorcycles attacked a mobile money point at Kirimanyago village, in Zzana, Makindye Ssabagabo in Wakiso district before killing the occupants including Harriet Nalwadda, 33 and Maureen Nakabuubi.
Police said they had been involved in other murders and robberies in various parts of the city where they targeted mobile money points.
