By Benson Tumusiime
Police in Entebbe over the Weekend arrested a former Staff of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF)under Airforce base in Entebbe, with other two of his friends for allegedly robbing tourists along Entebbe Express high Way, TheSpy Uganda reports.
The arrested were identified as Robert Mugabe alias Richard Twinomujuni alias Airforce, a former convict together with his colleagues Yasin Shaban and Twalib Sebaggala.
The trio was arrested for allegedly robbing tourists of 27,900 Euros and other belongings as they headed to catch a flight at Entebbe International Airport on June 27th 2018.
It is alleged that on the fateful day, Mugabe, dressed in a military attire together with his two accomplishes mounted a roadblock along Entebbe Express Highway, stopped the Prado vehicle and demanded the occupants to surrender all their belongings at gunpoint using a toy pistol.
Later, after successful illegal operation, the trio fled the scene and divided the loot amongst themselves.
The driver who was driving the tourists to the airport immediately reported the incident to Entebbe Police Station. A team of detectives successfully tracked down the suspects through a stolen smartphone belonging to one of the tourists.
Upon search at the home of Robert Mugabe, police recovered an army uniform, toy pistol, driving permit belonging to the driver and National Identity cards of the Serbian Nationals who were robbed.
During questioning, Mugabe confessed to having been given a 25 million Ugandan Shillings which he used to start a general merchandise shop in Mbarara, bought a plot of land and a second hand motorcycle.
Further investigations revealed that Mugabe, formerly a soldier under Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) was arrested, charged by the Unit Disciplinary Court (UDC) for desertion and sentenced to two years imprisonment. After serving his sentence in February 2011, he however never handed over his uniform.
“It’s through this transition from prison life that I hatched a plan, formed up a group with my friends to carry out robberies since I had a military background,” Mugabe (suspect) said.
The police spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan C/ASP Luke Owoyesigyire confirmed the development saying that the suspects are currently detained at Entebbe police station pending their trial in court.
