There was shock and drama at Lumuli police station last night when eight soldiers raided the facility, put police officers at gunpoint, and forcefully rescued their colleagues who had been arrested over staging a robbery roadblock.
Lumuli police station is located in Ndejje parish, Makindye Ssabagabo Municipality, in the Wakiso district. According to security sources, Lumuli Officer Incharge -OC Assistant Superintendent of Police -ASP Betty Kazugu received information that men dressed in Uganda People’s Defence Forces -UPDF uniform had staged a roadblock at Kakoola village.
In response to the tip-off, a patrol team of five police officers commanded by Police Constable Innocent Watum was sent in to respond to the incident. Police officers indeed found soldiers armed with one gun stopping vehicles.
“At the scene they found two soldiers who had one gun and had stopped vehicles. When they saw police, they shot in the air. They were arrested and brought to Lumuli police station. A Land Cruiser UAP 705P with over 8 soldiers all armed came to police and rescued them by force,” sources said.
But after learning that their action would perhaps land them in trouble, one Sgt Tonny Opio accompanied by a civilian Pius Lutaaya, who said to be a son of a retired Justice reported to Mutungo police station that the soldiers who had staged a robbery roadblock are Pte Job Reti and Pte Orete.
Sgt Opio and civilian Lutaaya said the two robbery suspects Pte Reti and Pte Orete had been taken for first aid. This has puzzled police officers because the soldiers were not injured during arrest. However, the case is recorded under Mutungo SD 18/04/01/23.
Luke Owoyesigyire, the deputy Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson, confirmed that the allegations. “We are investigating the aggravated robbery aspect and also aiding a suspect to escape from lawful custody,” Owoyesigyire said.
This incident comes barely a fortnight after Directorate of Crime Intelligence -DCI recovered 1,865 military and police attires in the ghettos of Kampala and Wakiso. DCI said some of the were being used in night robbery roadblocks. Although most of the attires were just lookalike uniforms, more than 200 were genuine UPDF uniforms, jackets, boots and t-shirts.