The Police in Arua have arrested two suspected highway robbers for stealing food destined for a refugee settlement.
The incident occurred on November 6 at around midnight at Kamukamu trading centre along the Arua-Nebbi-Kampala road.
According to Ms Josephine Angucia, the Police Public Relations Officer for the West Nile region, the two suspects were arrested for robbery and stealing from a vehicle.
She said the incident was reported by the driver, Abdul Aziz, 27, a Gishu by tribe, a resident of Kyengera in Kampala.
She revealed the names of the two suspects arrested as Asara Godwin, 18, a resident of Ananjara village, and Sabute Brian, 21, a resident of Ocoko village, all from Ocoko parish, Ajia sub-county, Arua District.
“It’s alleged that when the driver of a trailer motor vehicle, carrying food relief for refugees in Palorinya refugee settlement, was driving towards Arua town from Nebbi side, in Kamukamu trading centre, he saw a group of youths carrying machetes. The youths tried to stop him, but he didn’t stop, and so they boarded the moving trailer and started off-loading bags of posho on the road,” she said.
She said the driver tried to stop, but the suspects threatened to cut him, and he called the police, who responded quickly as the goons disappeared into the bush.
“A team of Police officers commanded by the DPC Arua responded to the scene, searched the nearby bushes from midnight up to 4:30 a.m. At around 6:00 a.m., a motor vehicle, a Harrier type with Registration Number UAW 012A, was intercepted carrying the stolen 4 bags of posho, and it had four occupants who ran away into the bush,” she added.
Ms. Angucia said two suspects were arrested, and the motorcycle they used was impounded and is currently parked at Arua rural police station at Odumi, where the suspects are detained pending investigations.
It has been observed that these thieves take advantage of the bad nature of the road, which is full of potholes from Nebbi to Arua, to climb the moving vehicles and offload goods, and this has become common during festive seasons.
Angucia says, with the help of the new highway patrol vehicle recently given to Arua district, police have planned to step up operations on criminals along the highway, and whoever is arrested shall be prosecuted according to the law.