Distress call: How thugs laid trap to kill Mbarara Police boss

As he responded to a distress call about thieves who had raided a nearby bar, Corporal Richard Agaba didn’t realize it was a trap by armed thugs to lure him into their territory and later kill him.

At around 3am on Wednesday, Agaba, the Officer in Charge of Ruharo Police Post in Mbaguta Cell, Ruharo Ward in the North division of Mbarara City was pronounced dead on arrival at Mbarara regional referral hospital where he had been rushed after being shot at by armed assailants.

According to Samson Kasasira the Rwizi region police spokesperson at around 2am,  Agaba received a call from a boda boda rider identified as Muzamiru Kiiza about armed robbers who had attacked Step Up bar in Kiyanja cell, Ruharo ward, Mbarara City North Division, Mbarara City .

“The Oc responded with one vigilante by the names of Tumusiime James also a boda boda rider who he used to ride him and on reaching the scene at Step up bar, the thugs had run away from the crowds which had started gathering,”Kasasira said.

The Rwizi police spokesperson said at the scene, the deceased together with the vigilante who also doubled as his rider followed the thugs to the nearby Palm World hotel in a bid to arrest them.

However, little did the two know that this was a trap by the thugs to pounce on him but also rob his gun.

“The thugs had stationed themselves in different positions armed with a gun and pangas. The one with a gun shot at the OC who in turn fell off the boda boda,”Kasasira noted.

In the resulting melee, the vigilante who also doubled as the rider escaped for fear of being shot and this gave chance to the armed assailants to rob the police officer’s gun and vanished in thin air.

Efforts to rush the injured officer for medical attention were futile as he was pronounced dead on arrival at Mbarara regional referral hospital after succumbing to the bullet wounds.

“The case is being investigated vide Mbarara  SD ref;04/08/09/2021.”

Brave officer

Speaking about the deceased officer in charge of Ruharo Police Post, the Police’s Chief Political Commissar, AIGP Asan Kasingye hailed him as a brave and patriotic officer who always put the service of his country first.

“He is the kind that doesn’t ask “how many and type of guns”. He served his community with commitment. Like others of his kind, he makes us proud. One would have said he went out to take a selfie. His patriotic candle burns out,”Kasingye said on Wednesday.