guns criminals use to kill mobile money agents in the various parts of the country belong to security organs.

By Angela Nyakuni

Information obtained from police officers indicate that the illegal guns criminals use to kill mobile money agents in the various parts of the country belong to security organs.

The police spokesperson, ACP Fred Enanga, was non committal,  saying those are KMP issues.  Onyango who is the Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) spokesperson, without naming any security agency, pointed out that the guns thugs use were stolen from security agencies.

“Those are illegal guns and in illegal hands,”  said Onyango.   He said that some guns were stolen by criminals, the joint security agencies arrested the criminals during the rampant murders, especially in Wakiso and Entebbe.

The criminals either completed their sentences or were given bail by court, and now they have come back to square one. This means, criminals were not cleaned up properly; they come back and start from where they had stopped before they were apprehended.

The army deputy spokesperson, Lt Col Deo Akiiki,  was also non-committal, he said he only speak for the UPDF, he can only comment on the gun if it has a UPDF mark. Security is wide and all guns in security are marked.

In the two recent murder and robbery cases that occurred in Entebbe, police detectives who visited the scene told the press that they recovered cartridge casings that look alike. However, the detectives didn’t disclose whether the guns used in the two killings belong to any of the security agencies.

The first two cartridges that we recovered in November 2020, looked like the one of an AK47 gun, even these three cartridges that we recovered on February 24, 2021 also look like the ones of an AK47, so there is a possibility that this could be the same gun only that we have not yet got any ballistic report to establish the owner of the gun, one of the detectives revealed.

Security agencies started the gun fingerprinting exercise after President Museveni issued instructions. The army spokesperson, Brig Flavia Byekwaso, explained it through a tweet: “Following the presidential directive in June 2018 that all guns must be finger-printed, Joint Security Agencies (JSA) agreed in a meeting to finger-print all guns in a systematic process …”

Apollo Kateba, the head of private security organisation told the press that all firearms for their security guards were marked and finger-printed.

Police began finger-printing guns three months after the presidential directive and nearly 96.7 per cent of firearms used by the Force personnel had been finger-printed by January 6.

Official records show that eight out of every 10 firearms used by private security have been finger-printed and half of guns licensed for private use by individuals have been finger-printed.

In total, as of last month, 67,321 firearms had been finger-printed.  Onyango advised mobile money operators to close their outlets at 6pm and ensure all cash is banked during day. He also advised against moving with cash. Between July 1 and December 31, 2020, police findings showed that 11 out of 20 guns recovered from criminals belonged to the UPDF, while five were from the Uganda Prisons Service and three from the police Force.