Police implicated in car theft

Mar 06, 2017

The racket that involves some Flying Squad operatives attached to Kawempe Police Station, was unearthed after a city lawyer, Emmanuel,Twagira, bought a vehicle from Overtime General Services Limited at Pine and the operatives attempted to impound it

The Police's Flying Squad Unit operatives have been accused of conniving with car dealers at Pine Car Bond along Lumumba Road to steal vehicles after selling them to clients.

The racket that involves some Flying Squad operatives attached to Kawempe Police Station, was unearthed after a city lawyer, Emmanuel,Twagira, bought a vehicle  from Overtime General Services Limited at Pine and the operatives attempted to impound it.,Twagira, a lawyer with Oscar Associated Advocates, alleged that the car dealer's sales agent, Moses Ssali, gave him false information about the condition of the vehicle he bought as being mechanically sound whereas not.

This prompted Twagira to sue Overtime General Services for selling to him a defective vehicle. Twagira said a day after he filed the suit, he was approached by a gang of men claiming to be Flying Squad operatives from Kawempe, and  they sought to arrest him and impound his car.

The suit

Through Mckenzie Aid Advocacy, Twagira filed the civil suit against Overtime General Services, where he bought a vehicle, a Pajero Mitsubishi registration number UAR 036W, on November last year. In the case filed on February 8, Twagira sued Overtime General Services jointly with Wamuco Motors Uganda Limited and George's Garage located in Lusaze- Lugala, Kampala.

Twagira contends that he paid sh4m to repair the vehicle and make it fit for travel upcountry and still  failed to travel, although he had been told that it was in good condition at the time he bought it.

Wamuco and George's Garage handled the repairs. The lawyer, therefore, wants the defendants to refund his sh4m and pay him sh25m being lost wages during the period of frustration of the vehicle.

He also wants sh10m in damages and sh15m in punitive damages for the defendants' fraudulent, criminal and deliberate actions against him. Twagira also sought an order from court to direct Overtime General Services to hand over the vehicle's log book to him free and clear, and a temporary injunction restraining the company from repossessing, impounding or claiming any right of ownership or interest in the car until the matter is disposed of.

Enter Flying Squad

Upon serving Overtime General Services with the suit documents, Twagira said a gang of three men posing  as policemen attached to the Flying Squad trailed him to Wakiso, where he resides and  attempted to arrest him on February 16.

"I requested them to identify themselves, however, they could not. I requested for the charges against me and they were also not available," he

says. The lawyer added that the gang leader, a one Sembatya, then disappeared purportedly to photocopy the document containing the charges, but he never returned.

He said Sembatya had documents bearing names of the Overtime General Services sales agent (Ssali), who convinced him to buy the vehicle.

Twagira revealed that the gang asked him to drive to Kawempe Police Station, but he refused and he left them with his business,card. "I proceeded to the city centre and parked along Kampala Road, but little did I know that they were trailing me," Twagira says.

According to Twagira, the men called him while at his car and were in the company of a uniformed Policeman only identified as Tumusiime and another man in plain clothes, who claimed to be a detective. "They forcefully demanded that I drive to Kawempe Police Station.

My demands to see some identity card and warrant fell on deaf ears again and as I pretended to drive to Kawempe Police Station, I instead drove to Central Police Station (CPS)," he narrated. Twagira said he reported the matter to the deputy commandant of Police's Flying Squad Unit, Francis Olugu, who arrested Sembatya for impersonating as a Police officer and conspiracy to commit a felony.

The case was recorded as SD 08/16/02/2017. "Sembatya's other four accomplices disappeared as soon as we got to CPS." Sunday Vision established that Sembatya was released the following day (February 17). Twagira said while at CPS, he was surprised to see a woman he had never seen before, showing up to claim that his vehicle had been used to rob her bag containing sh3m around Bwaise on Bombo Road between 7:00pm and 9:00pm on February 9.

"This was a day after I had filed the civil suit against Overtime General Services." Twagira said the unidentified woman claimed that she had reported a case at Kawempe Police Station on the same day she was purportedly robbed (February 9).

He added that the Kawempe Police Station Flying Squad commander, Ronald Ayebazibwe, later also showed up and defended the woman's claims. Twagira's vehicle was impounded.

However, when the woman was asked to produce the reference of her reported case, it showed that the case had been reported on February 16 under reference number SD 67/16/02/2017.

Twagira said on the evening of February 9, he reached his home in Wakiso at around 5:40pm with his vehicle and he never left. "My wife, housemaid, children and neighbours can fully corroborate my statement,  that I was home by that time (of alleged robbery) up to the next morning.

Following the actions of the gang members, it is clear that the woman who made those false claims against me is part of the gang of those thugs that attempted to kidnap me and steal my vehicle," argued Twagira.

In October 2015, Dona Katusabe, a businesswoman, was tortured to death at Pine allegedly by car dealers led by, Mohammed Ssebuwufu. This was after she failed to clear a balance of sh9m when she bought a car from Pin Ssebuwufu, together with others, are now facing murder charges.

PSU , IGP petitioned

The narrative of what transpired between Twagira and the Flying Squad officers is also contained in a petition that the lawyer lodged with the Police's Professional Standards Unit (PSU) and to the Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, on February 18. Twagira claimed Flying Squad officers led by the unit's head at Kawempe Police Station (Ayebazibwe), colluded with a gang members in an attempt to steal his car.

However, Sunday Vision has learnt that the Flying Squad chief, Herbert Muhangi, has since intervened and released Twagira's vehicle.

Muhangi responds

When contacted, Muhangi said he had already suspended the Kawempe Flying Squad commander (Ayebazibwe) over the incident, pending investigations.

We are trying to track their phones because we want to establish whether he (Ayebazibwe) has any relationship with the car dealers (Overtime General Services)," he said, before warning his staff against participating in car thefts yet it is one of the crimes the unit is fighting.

He said if found culpable, Ayebazibwe would face the Police disciplinary committee, adding that he could also face criminal charges. Muhangi also noted that they were probing claims that the lawyer's vehicle was used to rob a woman's bag at Bwaise. "We also want to establish whether Ayebazibwe has any relationship with her," he added.



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