Ivan Lukungu a 26 year old boda boda rider was arrested for his involvememt in the theft of over Shs 6bn from the residence of NRM treasurer, Barbara Nekesa Oundo in Bukasa parish, Muyenga, Kampala on December 15, 2023.
Lukungu, also known as Palaso, was apprehended this past weekend in Masaka City, by the Crime Intelligence operatives. Police officials said Palaso had bought a Harrier brand vehicle, opened a new restaurant and married a woman. While 12 of Palaso’s accomplices were arrested and remanded to Luzira, he had been on the run.
A description of how the robbery went down was given:
The robbery at the home of Hajj Mafabi Sulaiman Lumolo and his wife Hon. Amb. Nekesa Barbara Oundo occurred at around 04:47 am at Kyeitabya zone, Bukasa parish, Makindye division Kampala district.
Police said the couple had money kept in dollars and shillings, in their house, which Police Constable Michael Wango, having stayed at the residence as a home guard, for more than one and half years came to know about.
As a result, he hatched a plan with 2 other police officers, who included; Sgt Dominic Idro, PC Sharif Mugoya, together with Edgar Arinda alias Watson and Rogers Niwagaba.
The mission was executed on 5th December by PC Wango, PC Mugoya, Arinda alias Watson and Palaso who replaced Niwagaba. To help avoid detection, the mastermind PC Wango, disabled the Alarm system, which was controlled and monitored by the guards, at the main gate security sentry room.
He also disconnected the electric wires, mounted on top of the perimeter wall, as well as the security lights around the area he had earmarked for entry. Wango further adjusted the CCTV cameras, to avoid capturing footage from the direction his accomplices would use.
At around 10pm, his accomplices, PC Mugoya together with Arinda and Palaso gained entry into the compound and laid in wait till 4:00am.
They inflicted controlled injuries on PC Wango’s head, picked the two rifles in his possession, and thereafter proceeded to the servants quarters, where they forced the 3 maids to open the main house.
After gaining entry into the main house, the suspects broke the 4 doors inside the house. They traced and located Hon. Amb. Nekesa, from her hiding place, threatened to harm her, and she led them to the bedroom, where they kept their money. Her husband was not at home.
The suspects accessed the money in Ugandan shillings, and carried their loot in 5 bags, full of cash. They escaped through the small gate with 5 bags of cash, an Iphone 12 promax, a golden ring, DVR for CCTV system, a Techno spark 9 smartphone, a Huawei 19 mobile phone
They also disappeared with the two police guns, and 60 rounds of ammunition, which PC Mugoya Sharif, abandoned in a potato garden, 200 metres away from the residence.
They proceeded and hid in a banana plantation, where their rider Josh Kalinda found them.
They had in their possession 3 bags, after two other bags were hurriedly dropped, in the banana plantation by Arinda and Palaso, when they saw a local security guard advancing towards them, with a torch.
PC Mugoya and Arinda, boarded one motorcycle, to Nsambya barracks with two bags of cash, as Palaso boarded another motorcycle and disappeared from his accomplices with a bag containing an unspecified amount of money.
Amb. Nekesa, reported a robbery of cash Shs 41 million that was hers. An additional complaint was made by her bushand Hajji Mafabi Sulaiman Lumolo, of Shs 2.2 bn, that was robbed from his safe. The total amount stolen from the home was Shs 2.241.000.000.