Africa-Press – Uganda. At least nine suspected cattle rustlers have been killed during direct fire exchanges with the army and police in Karamoja region.
“We have registered the killing of nine cattle rustlers in the period of one week,” Karamoja regional police spokesperson Micheal Longole confirmed.
Speaking to Daily Monitor on Sunday, Mr Longole said the rustlers were killed in direct joint operations by the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and police.
Mr Longole noted that the region had not registered any killing of unarmed civilians in the last one week.
Security operatives in the area have also arrested another 24 cattle rustlers in the previous week.
“They are charged for being in possession of illegal firearms,’’ police said.
The arrests raise the number of arrested warriors to 534 with 350 of these convicted and sentenced by the Division Court-martial since the launch of the third phase of disarmament in the region in July 2021.
The largely voluntary disarmament exercise has yielded 144 guns and 1,101 rounds of ammunition from the rustlers.
For the last two years Karamoja Region has battled deadly cattle rustlers that terrorize communities- disrupting relative peace enhanced by a successful disarmament from 2001 to 2008.
Nabilatuk Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Mr Milton Odongo “appealed to the public not to conceal wrong criminals in their localities.”
“I call upon the general public to work hand in hand with the security in identifying the few criminals trying to destabilize the peace in the region,” he said.
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