Speeding smugglers knock boy dead

PIC: A witness said the speeding car lost control before fatally hitting the boy. (Credit: Geoffrey Namukoye)

A speeding car laden with cartons of smuggled cigarettes has knocked dead a 14-year-old boy in Kamuli district.

The teenage boy was fatally hit as he rode to school on a bicycle along the Kamuli-Jinja highway.

An eyewitness told New Vision the car, a Toyota Corona, lost control "at a high speed" and crashed the unsuspecting young rider.

The dead boy was later identified as Eria Sande, a Primary Six pupil of Namisambya Red Primary School.

It was later understood that the he had just ridden his grandfather to his garden before heading to school.

And when the old man received the news of his grandson's death while working in his garden, he immediately felt "weak" and "my mind was not settled".

The dead boy's grandfather had last been with him earlier in the morning. (Credit: Geoffrey Namukoye)

The suspected smugglers abandoned the car at the scene of the accident and it was later towed to Kamuli Police Station. (Credit: Geoffrey Namukoye)

Matyansi Malinzi said he was utterly shocked by the news of Sande's death. "I was just with him a little while ago."

The police publicist for Busoga North, Michael Kasadha confirmed the accident and said the ill-fated car was being trailed by Uganda Revenue Authority enforcement officers after they had suspected it was carrying smuggled items.

Authorities had followed the vehicle from Iganga through Luuka up until the point of the accident in Kamuli.

 "The car was carrying Supermatch cigarettes believed to be smuggled. It hit a hump at Butabala trading centre, lost control and rammed into a child who was riding a bicycle on the roadside," said Kasadha.

The suspects are on the run. Their car was towed to Kamuli Police Station as police began a hunt for them. The boy's body was taken to Kamuli Hospital mortuary.