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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Abdul Karim Ssekasi, the suspected leader of machete-wielding thugs that have been terrorizing Wakiso residents is in police custody.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga says that a team of police officers in Entebbe picked up Ssekasi when they responded to an alert as he was preparing for another robbery mission.
He explains that the arrest of the suspect came after days of tracking by crime intelligence following numerous reports of night attacks on residents by machete-wielding thugs.
According to police, Ssekasi together with 20 others travelling in a canter vehicle raided the residence of James Butende in Nkungu-Rutale in Wakiso at around 2:00 am and robbed him of an unspecified amount of money on June 15th, 2021.
The same group reportedly raided Nsagu village a few days after where they robbed several shops and vandalized several vehicles. This triggered a public outcry by the residents to the police prompting them to swing in action.
Police say that Ssekasi will help them to disclose his accomplices still at large. ”He will help us to widen our ongoing investigations and identifying other members of the gang and lead us to their hideouts,” Enanga said.
Over the weekend, police arrested over sixteen suspected criminal gang members who were operating in Makerere-Kikoni and Kasubi, all Kampala city suburbs.
The suspects were picked in an intelligence-led operation jointly conducted by Wandegeya and Old Kampala Police Divisions in Makerere-Kikoni and Kasubi areas.
Street robberies and house break-ins in Kampala Metropolitan areas have increased in recent months according to the police. Most of the cases were reported in Kampala and Wakiso districts.
According to the annual crime report 2020 compiled by the Police Criminal Investigations Directorate-CID, 10,113 cases of housebreaking were reported compared to 12,919 cases registered in 2019.
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