The crime intelligence-CI officer in-charge of Natete Police Station D/SP Ali Katende implicated in the theft of 21,000kg of coffee beans worth sh283.5m is yet to enter a new year on the run.
The officer was arrested this month and detained at the Railway Grounds Police Station for involvement in Mukono-Katosi coffee highway robbery instead of protecting it as it was being exported.
The arrest happened four months later after the robbery allegedly orchestrated by a network of suspects working with the said officer and other military personnel.
After a thorough investigation, police arrested eight individuals in connection with the robbery including Katende, the then Mukono CI but it is still unclear on how he regained his freedom.
However, upon realizing and confirming that his file was sanctioned and charged with robbery, D/SP Katende disappeared to an unknown destination.
Before his arrest, Katende had been transferred from Mukono under Kampala Metropolitan Police-KMP East to KMP South.
How the Robbery Happened?
Reliable sources say the truck carrying coffee was waylaid on the night of July 3, as it was being driven to Mombasa, Kenya, after securing clearance from Uganda Revenue Authority to export the beans.
Coffee was offloaded and put on another truck, which was driven to a coffee factory linked to an Asian businessman in Industrial Area, Kampala where it was allegedly exported to India.
Initially, Police in Mukono impounded the Kenyan truck belonging to David Kihora that was intercepted by the suspects and the Mercedes Benz boxbody that transported the stolen coffee to a factory in the Industrial Area.
However, only the Kenyan truck from which the coffee was offloaded is still at Mukono Police Station. The Mercedes Benz truck disappeared mysteriously from the Police station parking lot.
Other Arrests
The first crackdown in the case came with the arrest of Kenyan truck driver Njero, who led Police to Lameck Walakira, who was a driver of the Mercedes Benz box-body onto which the stolen coffee was loaded and transported to the factory in Industrial Area, Kampala.
Police indicates that Walakira led to the arrest of another suspect only identified as Kiggundu, who led the investigating team to the coffee factory in Industrial Area, where two other suspects (factory staff-manager and human resource officer) were arrested.
Upon interrogating the factory workers, the source revealed, they told investigators that the coffee was allegedly brought to the factory by a one Juma Musisi and another person only identified as Haji.
The source also disclosed that the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage retrieved on the route, revealed a convoy of five vehicles linked to the crime, including a Police patrol car. Other vehicles included a Toyota Noah, Toyota Premio, Mercedes Benz and Toyota Sienta, whose registration numbers are now a subject of investigation.
“These vehicles have been blacklisted and declared wanted [to be impounded] upon sight by Police’s directorate of information and communication technology in charge of CCTV cameras,” the source said.
On Record
Over the past five years, more than 200 Police officers have faced charges, with complaints ranging from file mismanagement to extortion.
In 2021, a total of 153 personnel were sacked from the force over misconduct. Police then revealed that the officers were dismissed over crimes that range from neglect of duty to being absent from duty without being on leave.
In 2020, the Criminal Investigations Directorate probed over 40 detectives involved in theft of case sensitive files allegedly to derail investigations.
In 2017, the Police’s Professional Standards Unit (PSU) recommended the sacking of 60 officers, and 80 were arrested for extortion, robbery and fraud.
To combat this, Police then launched the ‘Together, to Improve Service Delivery’ campaign, where the public was encouraged to report corrupt officers to PSU in Bukoto Kampala
In 2017, the Police’s Professional Standards Unit (PSU) recommended the sacking of 60 officers, and 80 were arrested for extortion, robbery and fraud.
Recently, Police Chief Abas Byakagaba ordered for the arrest of any Police officer who will be found to have detained suspects beyond the mandatory 48 hours with the aim of extorting money from them.
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