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Police and military operations have led to the killing of a warrior, Lopusitom, who allegedly gunned down a female police officer Corporal Hellen Atim, in January last year. Atim was shot dead when warriors also known as cattle rustlers raided Lokomebu Anti-Stock Theft detach at Nakwomeru village, Kotido district.
Cpl Atim had responded to gunfire since she was manning the checkpoint. Security has since been searching for Lopusitom until he was encircled in the wee hours of today morning at Loputuk, Odera parish in Panyangara Sub-county, Kotido District.
“Security forces have been trailing him since he was enlisted in Panyangara Anti-Stock Theft Unit- ASTU detach attack last year where we lost our officer as he got out of his unit to respond to gunfire that had wrecked the detach by Karimojong Jie warriors and they were repulsed,” AIP Mike Longole the Mt Moroto regional police spokesperson said.
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Longole said a prison gun UG PRI 56 3689710-02102 with 18 rounds of live ammunition was recovered which was among the guns taken during the Moroto prison break incident. It should be remembered that over 200 inmates escaped in 2020 from the Moroto government prison. So, Lopusitom’s gun was among the 14 that were taken by Moroto escapees. However, it has not yet been established whether he was among the escapees or he just acquired the gun.
“His body has been taken to Kotido Health Centre IV for Postmortem. We congratulate joint security forces for the achievement made so far and their commitment to pacify Karamoja,” Longole said.
The killing of Lopusitom comes a week after military and police arrested 32 Kenyans raiding cattle kraals in the Karamoja sub-region. They have since been charged and sentenced to 20 years in jail over illegal possession of guns and ammunition.
Security agencies have killed more than 700 warriors since July 2021 and also recovered almost an equal number of guns. At least 21,000 warriors have been arrested and charged in military courts over cattle theft, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.