CCTV unclear as masked Kampala thugs rob sh300 Million

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Thugs took advantage of the mandatory wearing of face masks to rob sh300 million from three workers of Amal Forex Bureau in Kisenyi, Kampala. As a result, Closed Circuit Television – CCTV security cameras could not swiftly identify facial features of the suspects.

Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire says that the trio that included Abdul Fatal Ahmed, the manager, Hassan Ahmed, the assistant manager, and Ismael Muhammed, the cashier was waylaid at Nakivubo by a group of four thugs.

The three had left their office in Kisenyi in a Toyota Wish registration number UBD 448 Y, and planned to withdrew 380 million Shillings from DTB Bank Equatorial Mall branch. The group afterwards proceeded to Stanbic Bank Nakivubo Branch where they deposited 80 million Shillings.

At around 12pm the trio left Stanbic Bank Nakivubo Branch with a balance of 300 million Shillings which was carried by Ahmed Hassan. But they were attacked by thugs who were wearing surgical masks, as they returned to the parking yard at Equatorial mall.

“The thugs grabbed the bag containing the money and jumped on motorcycles and rode off to an unknown destination,” Owoyesigyire said.

Abdul Fatal rushed to Kampala Central Police Station -CPS and filed a case of robbery on case reference CPS KLA CRB 607/2020.

There is suspicion that the thugs trailed the trio right from Kisenyi and kept monitoring them until their target was encircled. The Flying Squad Unit tried to pursue the suspects after being notified, in vain.

Owoyesigyire said that one suspect who had been arrested has since been released since there was no information linking him to the crime.

This has since left people including some police officers wondering whether the compulsory wearing of masks would not hamper the ability to detect and fight crime since some facial features are being covered.

Earlier on, two  detectives also part of the CCTV monitoring team in Kampala City expressed worry that criminals could take advantage of compulsory masks to successfully excute criminal activities.

“If a thug robs money or other valuable and he runs into crowds wearing masks it could take ages to trace him. People have been suspicious of whoever wears a mask but now it’s going to be a norm,”  a detective said.

Nevertheless, Police Spokesperson, Fred Enanga, says even someone covers the mouth, nose and eyes cameras have ability to identify the suspects using other features.

“We do not only use the mouth and nose to identify features of someone. When the mouth and nose are covered, we can identified the person using features like eyes, ears or forehead,” Enanga said.

Early this year, Police records showed a number of robberies conducted by thugs disguising as taxi operators were arrested based on facial features captured by CCTV cameras.

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