By Spy Uganda
Moroto: More than 50 prisoners yesterday evening escaped from a jail in North-Eastern Uganda Moroto district, bringing the local town to a standstill while security forces tried to track them down.
TheSpy Uganda has established that 280 inmates escaped with 15 guns and twelve magazines.
The prisoners are reported to have fled towards Tapac and Loputuk sub-counties. A prisons’ officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the inmates reportedly attacked an officer on duty and broke into the armoury at Singila prisons.
The operation by UPDF in pursuit of escapees from singila prison in moroto to re arrest them and recover the stolen guns continues.the population therefore is advised to stay calm. pic.twitter.com/eUu6KpH6x9
— Brig Gen Flavia Byekwaso (@UPDFspokespersn) September 16, 2020
Minutes later, gunfire rocked Moroto town for at least 30 minutes as a combined force of the army, police and prisons engaged the now armed inmates in a gunfire exchange that led to death of one Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF).
Moments later two military helicopters were seen hovering over Mt. Moroto where the inmates were believed to have been hiding. Grace Nali, a crime preventer in Singila Cell, Moroto municipality said they heard gunfire and saw a lot of inmates running.
“Some were naked while others were in their yellow uniform. They were armed and were exchanging fire with the security forces,” said Nali.
A government disarmament programme in the early 2000s took most of the guns out of the hands of civilians, but sporadic clashes between different communities have continued to happen even as we speak today.
TheSpy Uganda is still on ground to keep you updated!