Iron bar hitmen strike during rain - Police report

Oct 10, 2016

A security expert said criminals have advanced from pick-pocketing to direct attacks, warning that Police will have to revise its methods

Police has warned that iron bar hit men have struck again in parts of Kampala and have become bolder and deadlier.

According to a preliminary Police report, the hit men who had gone underground, take advantage of heavy rains, especially at night to waylay their victims.

In their recent attacks last week on Wednesday night, the thugs hit Morris Mutyaba, a resident of Kilombe-Luzira, a city suburb, leaving him for dead.

Security operatives led by Jinja Road Police Commander, Moses Osega, picked Mutyaba who sustained a deep cut on his head as he lay unconscious along the road to Kilombe in Luzira.

Osega said Mutyaba was hit with a blunt object on the head by suspected iron bar hitmen before he was robbed of his property.

"The hit-men attacked Mutyaba during the Wednesday night rain. He was hit hard on the head leaving a big opening. We managed to rescue him and rushed him to Mulago Hospital for treatment," he said.

Another victim only identified as Mugisha, a resident of Mulimira Zone in Bukoto, was also hit before he was robbed and he is also nursing wounds at Mulago Hospital.

Police said a woman (name withheld), who resides in Mbuya II in Nakawa was reportedly gang-raped, while another unidentified woman was killed and her body dumped in Kabusu, Rubaga division.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Emillian Kayima, said the woman's body which was recovered from a road side trench in Sembuule Zone had a deep cut on the forehead.

Police suspect the deceased was hit with a blunt object and she died instantly. Her body was taken to Mulago Hospital for a post-mortem.

Simon Mulongo, a security expert said criminals have advanced from pick-pocketing to direct attacks, warning that Police will have to revise its methods of cracking down hardcore criminals.

"It is a wave that comes in at a certain time and it is related to income," Mulongo said during a telephone interview with New Vision.

In a recent interview, the then police spokesperson, Fred Enanga said the suspected Iron bar hit men spread out in various city suburbs, pouncing on bodaboda riders.

"Police recovers unidentified bodies weekly but most with wounds on their heads are suspected to be caused by blunt objects," Enanga said.

He added that the thugs hit their victims mostly on the neck and head. The robbers then take off with the motorcycles. They allegedly drive trucks onto which they load the motorcycles.

"The iron bar hit men have bounced back in a new wave of operation," Enanga said, adding that, "The suspects operate within Kampala and Wakiso".

Osega, called for public calm, saying patrols have been intensified to apprehend the suspected thugs especially in the city suburbs of Naguru, Biina and Kilombe.

Other areas where they operate are; Kyebando, Kamwokya, Bweyogerere, Banda, Kyaliwajjala, and Naalya.

According to Police, a total of eight people in were killed the month of August alone by suspected iron bar hitmen. The victims were from; Kabuusu, Katwe, Kampala, Wakiso, Alebtong, Mbale, and Mbarara districts.

According to statistics from Mulago National Referral Hospital, a total of 120 victims of iron bar hitmen are admitted at the hospital monthly.

The Police 2014 crime report shows that cases of aggravated robberies were 3,644 up from 3,620 cases in 2013.

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