Police in Mukono are holding a 17-year-old boy for allegedly stealing motor vehicle number plates.
The suspect identified as Enock Kyakonye Ssentamu 17, was arrested on Saturday following numerous complaints registered at Police.
He revealed to the police officers that he has been targeting owners with the latest vehicle models and new number plates. He would sneak into gates, pluck off the number plates and leave behind a phone contact.
This phone contact acts as a medium for receiving money solicited from vehicle owners in exchange for their number plates at a fee between Ushs 50,000 and Ushs 200,000.
“Once my demands are met, i direct the vehicle owner to a place where he or she can get back the plates,” said the suspect.
Kampala Metropolitan Police has seen multiple number plate theft offences, mostly being committed in the darker hours and with vehicles’ parked on the road, as opposed to being tucked away in driveways, garages and yards.
Mukono district DPC, SP Rogers Seguya has confirmed the arrest and recovering over 50 number plates from areas of Kyetume, Namuyenje, Sonde, Seeta and Nasuuti.
“We are very happy with how members of the public are working with us to deal with crime and we hope this will continue,” SP Seguya said.
The trend of theft of number plates has been on the rise not just in Kampala and surrounding districts but in other parts of the country. Police has often appealed to victims of this vice to desist from submitting into the demands of the criminals but rather to work with police to have the culprits tracked and arrested.
