Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) enforcement team in Mbale district foiled the robbery of a fuel truck that was in transit to DR Congo in the wee hours of Friday.
The tax body said Monday that this followed a tip-off that unknown armed assailants had hijacked the fuel truck Reg Number KCB022G.
“It is reported that the truck driver and turn-boy were put on gunpoint at about 1:00 am just after Malaba and later thrown out of the truck around Busiu, along Mbale – Tororo Road, with both their feet and hands tied together in ‘kandooya’ style,” URA management said.
Upon receiving this report, the enforcement team immediately contacted the Transit Monitoring Unit which mans the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) for a live location of the truck and a team of security personnel was constituted to move in and rescue the cargo.
The URA Transit Monitoring Unit using the (RECTS) located the fuel truck at Nakaloke, along Mbale – Soroti Road, about 50 kilometres from where it was hijacked and notified the rescue team about this location.
“The team moved to the location immediately. The team intercepted the fuel truck, in a very dark spot, as the assailants were siphoning fuel. The assailants scampered for their lives and scattered into the surrounding bushes when they suddenly saw the enforcement team approaching, leaving behind their tools.”
The enforcement team recovered all the fuel, about 200 litres, that had been siphoned by the assailants, a gun, a magazine with three rounds of ammunition, a bag containing documents and a sack containing phones and clothes suspected to belong to the truck driver and turn-boy.
“The truck driver narrated the heroics of his turn-boy who bit the ropes to set them free and sought the help of Nakaloke area leaders who in turn provided a phone that the driver used to contact his relatives who in turn reported the incident to URA immediately.”
The gun, magazine and ammunition were handed over to Security Operatives while the truck along with its contents was forwarded to the Intelligence Team for further case management.
“This recovery is attributed to the driver’s vigilance, quick reaction and RECTS technology,” URA noted.
