By Innocent Anguyo

KAMPALA - Four men remain under police custody in Kampala for stealing sh250m from Bank of India, Uganda (BOI) located along Jinja road.

Two of the arrested individuals worked with the bank – Benjamin Lubega, an official and Graffin Muganzi, a driver.

The other two are James Kilumulo and Mulondo Kityomwani. Police says all the four reside in Kampala.

They were intercepted as they transported the stolen money in a bullion vehicle from Bank of India to Standard Chartered bank located in the central business district of Kampala.

Kampala Metropolitan spokesman Ibin Ssenkumbi disclosed that the suspects allegedly studied the operations of the bank for months before stealing the money.

“Their intention was to make away with sh1bn,” he said.

“Lubega and Muganzi [the employees of the bank] often updated Kilumulo and Mulondo on the routes and time the bank used to deliver money to Standard Chartered bank,” Ssenkumbi said.

The police spokesperson says on the day they were caught, Lubega and Muganzi had tipped their colleagues on the colour and type of bag the bank used to pack the money in.

Kilumulo and Mulondo allegedly bought a replica of the bag and stashed it with paper.

They are suspected to have exchanged the bags between the two banks, subsequently replacing the genuine bag with the one containing paper.

However on realizing at Standard Chartered bank that the bags had been swapped, the Indian official from BOI reported the incident to Central Police Station in Kampala, prompting police to arrest the four.

The suspects have allegedly declined to declare where they hid the money. They have subsequently denied the accusation labeled against them.

They are charged with theft and remain detained by police pending prosecution in courts of law as police intensify investigations into the matter.