Six held over cattle theft

In Summary

Tracked. According to police, suspects hire farms and later assemble stolen cows for sale

Police in Isingiro have burst a racket of suspected cattle thieves, arresting six in the district and neigbouring areas.

Mr Charles Nkirinawe, the officer in charge of Kaberebere Police Station, where the suspects are being held, at the weekend said the suspects have been hiring farms from residents claiming they were looking for pasture and water for their animals.

“They then use the land for assembling cattle they have stolen. It has been hard to suspect these thieves whom locals had embraced as fellow farmers by hiring them farms which they in turn stock with stolen cattle,” Mr Nkirinawe said.

He added that they caught one of them as he attempted to break into a kraal of one of the residents of Masha Sub-county leading to the arrest of the others.

The police officer said while much of the theft was done in Isingiro, the thieves had hired a farm in the neighbouring village of Koranorya in Mbarara District.

Police found there three cows that had just been stolen while 20 others had just been sold off.

Mr Nkirinawe said the suspects have been forging stamps of local leaders and work on cattle movement permits themselves.
He said every week, they register at least one case of cattle theft.

The suspects will be arraigned in court after investigations on accusations of cattle theft have been done.