Police have asked the public to be vigilant and report cases of stealing motor vehicles for ease of tracking and prosecution of suspects.
Police spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police Emilian Kayima said many Ugandans continue to lose motor vehicles to criminals, they are dismantled and sold as scrap.
They also modify others through tampering with the chassis numbers and sell them locally or drive and sell them beyond borders to DRC, South Sudan or Tanzania.”
Kayima revealed that criminals trail their victims to parking lots,homes or along the streets where they break into the targeted vehicle and drive away stealthily.
He also revealed that, “some hire them from owners under the self drive schemes and later report theft of these vehicles and you can easily fall for their bait as they look innocent yet they are the criminals playing the victims.”
He said some forge chassis numbers replacing the original with the forged ones, making it hard for recovery when presented to URA for verification.
He said police have recovered 36 vehicles out of 136 which were reported stolen since August 2017 to date, and some have not yet been claimed.
“When a motor vehicle is stolen, report to police immediately, ensure you have your authentic documents like national ID, Log Book so that we circulate the information through out the country especially at our border points.”
He also advised the general public to invest in car tracking systems that may help to fight this crime and ought to think of the value insurance.
