Musicians Lutaaya, Irene Namatovu ambushed

Singers Geoffrey Lutaaya and wife, Irene Namatovu of De New Eagles Band were ambushed by armed thugs along Butambala Road in Mpigi district.

The incident happened on Thursday evening when the singers and their crew were from a show at Kanoni in Gomba.

"At around 1am at Kabasanda Trading Center in Butambala district, unidentified men ambushed us, tied us with ropes and robbed our vehicle plus other valuables" said Lutaaya.

According to Lutaaya, four armed men staged a fake road block and as soon as they stopped, the men forced them out of the car and tied them up with three ropes.

After confiscating their mobile phones, money and car keys, the thieves dumped them in the nearby bush and drove off. 

"Since men were dressed in jackets like police officers, as soon as they stopped us, we thought it was a police road block. But when they forcefully removed us from the car, I thought they wanted to take our lives" he added.

According to the couple, the attack took 10 minutes and before the thugs drove off, they ordered them not to move an inch until morning. 

After 30 minutes, they moved towards the main road and were later rescued by other group members who were trailing them in a bus. 

Lutaaya and his crew were travelling in Namatovu's new car, a Toyota Alphard UAY 544Q. The other occupants in the car were Sakira Bogere, Umar Katumba, Eddie Mubajje, and Joe Nyombi.  

The group recorded the incident at Kabasanda Police Station which is a few meters from where the attack happened. 

A Flying Squad operative in Mpigi district told New Vision that they are following up a gang of armed robbers from Kampala who have started terrorizing the two districts.

According to him, the armed robbers stage road blocks after midnight and rob passengers of money and vehicles which they take to the DR Congo for sale.