Illegal Military/Police attires destroyed

The Directorate of Crime Intelligence has today 5th.March 2023, destroyed the illegal military and Police attires seized from members of the public. The attires were burnt at Kiteezi in Kampala.

On 01 Dec 2022, the Directorate of Crime Intelligence in partnership with the Ghetto Youth Coordinators launched a two-week operation in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono aimed at recovering illegal Military/police attires from the public.

This followed incidents of aggravated robbery, kidnap, illegal roadblocks at night, house breakings etc, in which the perpetrators were reportedly putting on attires that resemble military or police uniforms.

Besides,  illegal possession and or use of military attires contravenes Sections 160, 161 and 164 of the UPDF Act, 2005.

This operation has been Ghetto youth led in our effort to put the people at the centre of national security, while promoting community policing and civil-police cooperation. To that end, the ghetto youth coordinators in Kampala, Wakiso, Nansana and Mukono were tasked with collection of the illegal attires from the public and hand them over to territorial Police.

The operation  was planned to be conducted in Two phases. Phase 1, which commenced on 01 Dec 2022 and ended on 15 Dec 2022 was  the voluntary handing over phase in which each shirt or trouser handed over was bought back at 10,000/= to allow the owners to buy a replacement.  The owners of the illegal attires were also assured of protection from prosecution provided they handed over the items within the 14 days grace period.

After the End of Phase I, the Police with the support of the sister security agencies embarked on Phase II during which anyone found in possession or use of military/ police uniforms or attires that resemble such uniforms would be arrested and charged.

“We appeal to the public to desist from buying or acquiring such illegal attires as their possession promotes insecurity and is illegal. The public is urged to report illegal possession of such items to Police and other Sister Security Forces for immediate retrieval,” said Police spokesman, Fred Enanga.