Taxi operators rob passengers, Police warn
Oct 12, 2009
The Police at the weekend arrested a taxi driver and a conductor for allegedly robbing a passenger.
By Steven Candia
The Police at the weekend arrested a taxi driver and a conductor for allegedly robbing a passenger.
Kampala Police boss Andrew Soworen warned the public about a new wave of crime involving taxi crews.
He issued the warning yesterday as he paraded the driver, Christopher Semakula, and the conductor, Sewanyana Congoni, before the press at Kampala Central Police Station.
Taxi crews, he said, were increasingly involved in crime, robbing their passengers instead of delivering them safely.
“This is a big racket of drivers and conductors turning against passengers and robbing them,†Sorowen said.
The two were arrested in Wakiso after their victim notified the Police. They face charges of robbery.
On October 8, Sorowen said, the two robbed the passenger at Nabweru.
The man was among several others who had boarded the taxi heading for Wakiso from the Busunju stage in the New Taxi Park.
“At some point, he remained alone in the taxi,†Sorowen said.
“When they reached Nabweru junction, the driver changed his mind about proceeding. The passenger tried to get out. That is when they turned on him and grabbed his phone and wallet.â€
Sorowen urged people who had suffered similar incidents to report to the Police.
He also appealed to the leadership of the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) to screen all its workers.
He said the Police had received several complaints in the past but UTODA denied such incidences, saying the acts were perpetrated by kibaluwa (un-licensed) drivers.
In this case, he said, the taxi took off from the New Taxi Park which is under the mandate of UTODA.
In another incident, the Police have arrested a woman who allegedly transferred her elder sister’s plot into her name and used it as collateral to secure a sh25m loan from a money lender.
The woman, identified as Pamela Sururu, later lost the entire sum in a bogus business deal, according to Henry Kalulu, the Kampala deputy Police spokesperson.
She went on to defraud another money lender of sh55m and a city bank of sh20m, Kalulu added.
“We are charging her with impersonation, forgery, uttering false documents and obtaining money by false pretences.â€
The Police at the weekend arrested a taxi driver and a conductor for allegedly robbing a passenger.
Kampala Police boss Andrew Soworen warned the public about a new wave of crime involving taxi crews.
He issued the warning yesterday as he paraded the driver, Christopher Semakula, and the conductor, Sewanyana Congoni, before the press at Kampala Central Police Station.
Taxi crews, he said, were increasingly involved in crime, robbing their passengers instead of delivering them safely.
“This is a big racket of drivers and conductors turning against passengers and robbing them,†Sorowen said.
The two were arrested in Wakiso after their victim notified the Police. They face charges of robbery.
On October 8, Sorowen said, the two robbed the passenger at Nabweru.
The man was among several others who had boarded the taxi heading for Wakiso from the Busunju stage in the New Taxi Park.
“At some point, he remained alone in the taxi,†Sorowen said.
“When they reached Nabweru junction, the driver changed his mind about proceeding. The passenger tried to get out. That is when they turned on him and grabbed his phone and wallet.â€
Sorowen urged people who had suffered similar incidents to report to the Police.
He also appealed to the leadership of the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) to screen all its workers.
He said the Police had received several complaints in the past but UTODA denied such incidences, saying the acts were perpetrated by kibaluwa (un-licensed) drivers.
In this case, he said, the taxi took off from the New Taxi Park which is under the mandate of UTODA.
In another incident, the Police have arrested a woman who allegedly transferred her elder sister’s plot into her name and used it as collateral to secure a sh25m loan from a money lender.
The woman, identified as Pamela Sururu, later lost the entire sum in a bogus business deal, according to Henry Kalulu, the Kampala deputy Police spokesperson.
She went on to defraud another money lender of sh55m and a city bank of sh20m, Kalulu added.
“We are charging her with impersonation, forgery, uttering false documents and obtaining money by false pretences.â€