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Napak, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Security personnel in Napak have recovered the police gun that was stolen by a suspected rapist.
On Tuesday police arrested a suspected rapist in Kangole town council, but the suspect who was in detention at Kangole Police Post grabbed the gun and fled.
The incident shocked the entire district with the joint security personnel launching a three-day hunt for the gun.
On Thursday security mounted a cordon and search operation in Kangole town council where several people were pushed out of their houses to allow police and army to search their houses.
Brigadier Joseph Balukudembe the UPDF 3rd division spokesperson says that the gun was recovered on Friday after a tip-off by residents.
Brig. Balukudembe said the suspect was walking with the gun around the border between Lotome Sub County and Lorengedwat Sub County.
“He was moving freely with the gun, so when he saw the soldiers, he tried to run, but he was captured,” he said.
Johnson Tikol, a resident of Kalotom village in Ngoleriet Sub County in Napak district thanked the security personnel for recovering the gun. He says that they have been living in fear.
“Since I heard information about that gun being stolen, I was not comfortable because that one gun alone would cause a big problem to the community,” he said.
Losia Nakiru a mother and a resident of Kangole chini village in Kangole town council said the recovery of the stolen police gun will now bring peace to the area.
Guns are in high demand in Karamoja. Last year a total of 240 prisoners of Moroto broke into the prisons and took with around 15 fully loaded guns. The prisoners accessed the armoury after overpowering one of the prisons warders and disarmed him.
Up to now, the prisons authorities have not recovered any single gun although the same escapees have been arrested.
Since October 2019 Karamoja region has been experiencing cattle rustling an activity that had stopped ten years back after the government successfully disarmed the Karimojong pastoralists.
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