Police in Kiira is holding four suspects in connection with the spate of car number plate thefts in the Busoga sub-region and Eastern corridor generally.
The criminal gang has been targeting mainly the Indian business communities of Jinja city, Jinja district, Iganga, Namutumba, and Tororo district, according to police.
“The criminal gang, after stealing number plates, were asking for money to be sent via mobile money on 0771491993 and 0703932528. We have since established that the above telephone numbers belonged to a one Hussein Kato who died sometime back,” said police in a statement.
It adds, “Through our experts, we tracked down the culprits successfully and arrested the ring leaders of the criminal gang, identified as Simon Olowo and Alex Macho, residents of Tororo district, as well as a retired ICT secondary teacher called George Ogutti, 62, who has been at the strategic level of planning for the group, like drafting a 10-year plan for stealing motor-vehicle number plates.”
Ogutti is suspected to be behind the threatening letters or leaflets that they leave behind after stealing number plates from residential homes, parking places, and factories.
“We have conducted a thorough search at the premises of the retired teacher and exhibited a laptop, monitor, printer, and documents to that effect.
We have also arrested Stephen Mugabe who has been keeping the stolen number plates. We managed to recover two number plates from banana plantation along Gabula Road in Jinja City. UBE 518B and UBL 287G,” said police.