Police has revealed that they are registering numerous incidents of passengers being robbed by taxi criminal gangs.
Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, said that the taxi gangs have been identified along sections that feed into the Kampala Northern Bypass, from Busega to Namboole.
“As the police, we continue to receive complaints that criminals in conspiracy with rogue taxi drivers and conductors rob innocent passengers who board taxis of their valuables like cash, mobile phones, jewelry, and ATM cards,” said Enanga.
He explained that unsuspecting passengers board the taxis, after seeing other occupants in the taxi yet these are criminals disguised as passengers.
“The victims are attacked as the taxi starts moving and are forced to surrender their cash, mobile phones, ATM cards, reveal their pin code numbers and other valuables.”
The danger with this criminal behaviour is that after robbing the victim, they push, throw or bundle them out of the moving taxi, onto the tarmac or side of the road,” Enanga said.
“We are already gathering intelligence and good clues about these criminals, taxi gangs, that are hiring female accomplices to disguise as passengers and also using fake number plates that they remove after every mission,” he added.
He urged passengers to always check the number plates if they are well fixed and appear genuine.
“Ensure you board your taxis from a gazetted stage. Also observe if the driver has a genuine badge, which is well displayed with names and stage,” he urged.