Police Kills 4 Robbers In Fierce City Fight

By Geoffrey Kamali,Steven Candiaand Miria Sidney IF there are any armed gangsters left in Kampala city, then they were less by three last evening. The Police and other security agencies yesterday “harvested”, after a fierce gun battle, another three gangsters who attacked a forex bureau in the city. Six guns were recovered.The robbers struck Stanhope Forex Bureau on Nakivubo Road and made off with an unspecified amount of money, after a fire exchange with the Police in which one robber was killed.The robbers fled through Kisekka Market, driving at high speed with the Police patrol cars in hot pursuit. Witnesses made a mad dash for some of the cash that spilled as the robbers loaded it in a rush. The dash made it easy for the robbers to escape as the Police held back fire.A driver of a Police patrol vehicle, Tusingwire Africana, was injured by two bullets, which hit him on the shoulder and grazed his scalp.One of the robbers was shot dead after the gang entered an eucalyptus plantation near the Law Development Centre (LDC), Makerere.The rest of the gang beat the Police cordon and escaped in various directions, with some towards Makerere Kikoni, a city suburb, where they took refuge in their rented rooms.A combined force of Police and plain-clothes security officers surrounded the house and a fierce exchange ensued, creating a standoff, which last three hours.A man claiming to be a Masters student in agriculture at Makerere University, John Wesige, was arrested by the Police on suspicion of being part of the gang.“We found him ducking in military style. When the gunfire raged, he ducked. When it stopped, he would stand up and take off,” a Police officer said.A soldier with the Presidential Protection Unit (PPU) ended the stalemate when he took off his shirt and stormed the hideout, rolling on the ground movie-style as he took on the remaining gangsters.“Mbamaze! Bawedde! (I have finished them off),” the soldier said, raising his gun in triumph as policemen congratulated him.Police said one of the dead robbers was identified as Richard Magumba, a special hire taxi driver on Namirembe Road.Two pump-action guns, a Uzi-gun, a pistol with two bullets and two loaded magazines were recovered from the residence. Expensive sofa sets, fridges, carpets and forged car numberplates were found in the house. Residents applauded the Police.Ends