Boda boda storm Police stations in Kampala

Mar 11, 2009

ANGRY <i>boda boda</i> cyclists yesterday besieged two Police stations in Kampala demanding the “heads” of three suspected robbers.

By Jude Kafuuma
and Patrick Jaramogi


ANGRY boda boda cyclists yesterday besieged two Police stations in Kampala demanding the “heads” of three suspected robbers.

The charged cyclists parked their bikes in the middle of the streets demanding that the Police hand over William Odur, Patrick Okello and Francis Ogwal, whom they accused of robbing a motorcycle from Kireka.

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said: “The mob wanted to lynch the trio accused of attacking one of their colleagues and stealing his motorbike. Police moved in fast and blocked them because such suspects help us to get more clues in the crime.”

For more than five hours, the Police fought off the cyclists who raided the Central Police Station and the Kira Road Police Stations.

The chaos brought traffic and business in the city centre, Kamwokya, Bukoto and Mulago suburbs to a standstill.

The fracas prompted the traffic Police to divert vehicles on the roads leading to the Central Police Station.

By midday, the clashes had spread to Najeera in Wakiso where two of the suspects live.

Investigations show that Odur, said to be a student in a school at Mulago and Okello, a boda boda cyclist, on Tuesday night hired Shaban Tabuwa from Bweyogerere stage and told him to take them to Namugongo.

But as they approached a filling station in Kireka, the pair reportedly turned against Tabuwa, hit his head with a hammer and grabbed his motorcycle.

Tabuwa managed to escape after identifying one of the suspects as Okello. He mobilised boda boda who arrested Okello. He led them to Odur’s home in Najeera, Kira town council. Okello was handed over to the Kireka Police.

At dawn, the boda boda cyclists also apprehended Odur who said he had hidden the motorcycle at the home of another man called Ogwal who resided in Mulago.

As the mob was moving with Odur towards Mulago in search of the motorcycle, the Police patrol intervened and took the suspect to Kira Road Police Station.

Drama ensued at the station when hordes of boda boda demanded the suspect so they could “deal with him”. Others lay in the middle of Kira Road, cutting off traffic in the early morning rush hour.

“We want the Police to give us this man, he is part of the robbers who have been terrorising our transport business,” said Rashid Kawaawa, the chairman of boda boda operators in Nakawa Division.
Kira Police detectives disguised Odur as a cop, dressed him in a Police uniform and smuggled him out of the station to the Central Police Station (CPS).

Alex Asiimwe, the Kira Division Police commander, also called for reinforcement as the mob threatened to overpower his men.
According to the Police, Odur confessed to being part of a bigger racket.

After discovering that Odur had been whisked away to the CPS, the boda boda moved there and demanded the Police hand him over. It took the intervention of senior Police officers at CPS to calm down the enraged cyclists who were threatening to storm the cells.

The cyclists, who camped at the station for about two hours, later moved to Najeera, threatening to burn Omar’s house. The Anti-Riot Police deployed there to avert the chaos.

In Najeera, the mother of William Odur, Oliver Namagembe, was shocked on seeing the anti-riot Police surround her home.

She said: “Odur failed to raise school fees. I asked him to go back to the village and he refused. But recently I was told he was studying medicine at Mulago.”

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