How police officers at Kireka stole Shs 17 million from Nkuba Kyeyo who had just returned from Abu Dhabi

Police has arrested two of its own officers for allegedly robbing savings worth $4700, approximately Shs 17 million belonging to a security guard who had just returned from Abu Dhabi to start a life back home.

The incident happened early this month in Kireka when Gideon Michael Omoit, who had  just returned home after completing his 2 years and nine months tour of duty in Abu Dhabi and  had gone to a local food joint received a call from a broker about a rental house he had earlier requested for in a bid to settle in.

“The broker told me he was around Bweyogerere and requested me to go take a look at some of the rentals. I asked the waitress(at the food joint) to keep my luggage that I would pick after seeing the house,”Omoit says.

He narrates that on return, he was informed his luggage had been taken to Kireka police station after the food joint owners became suspicious of its ingredients.

Omoit narrated that he trekked to the police station which is a stone’s throw away from the food joint and was informed that the officer in charge of the station had kept the luggage but he was not around.

“I was told to see Kawooya who had handled the matter but was not around. I proceeded to the OC CID who called Kawooya and said he was on his way. On arrival, I was taken to the OC station’s office where he asked me to open the big bag and had recorded a list of items therein on a paper.”

On opening the bag, the security guard narrates, he realized a khaki envelope containing $4700 was empty and one of his new phones was nowhere to be seen despite being listed on the paper as one of the items found in the bag.

When Omoit asked for the whereabouts of his items, the police officer denied having seen any of them adding that they had not even been included on the list.

“After a short while, the OC station, Mr. Muyonjo appeared and the OC CID also came into the office with other people I suspected to be police officers.”

He says while there, he was asked the source of money before telling them he had saved it while working in Abu Dhabi for two years as a security guard.

“I also showed them my passport and pictures of money that I had taken from a  Pacific hotel room  where I had slept the following night.”

Restaurant staff bribed

While at the police station, the owner of the food joint where Omoit’s luggage had been picked from arrived in a bid to follow up on the matter that involved his customer.

The restaurant owner according to Omoit said his staff had confessed to have been bribed with shs250,000 so that he keeps quiet about sharing of the dollars by the police officers.

“It is from that point that they all said I had exaggerated the amount and that they had seen only $500 . The $500 they claimed to be having was not shown to me.”

As events unfolded, the OC station together with other officers except Kawooya  disappeared in thin air but Kawooya had in his hands the paper containing the listed items allegedly from Omoit’s bag.

He said later the officer in charge of CID for Kira division showed up and asked to read through the case file and on reading through it found out that the $500 had been included on the listed items but in a different handwriting with the other items.

Police speaks out

The Police Professional Standards Unit spokesperson, Vincent Ssekate confirmed the arrest of ASP Nicholas Muyonjo, the officer in charge of Kireka Police station and Paul Jagule, the Community Liaison Officer.

“They have been arrested over theft of $4700 as investigations continue. If investigations reveal that more police officers were involved, we shall arrest more people,”Ssekate told the Nile Post on phone.