Two Held for Theft of Electricity Transmission Cables Worth UGX 25M

Written by on October 20, 2021

Two men accused of stealing power transmission cables worth Shillings 25 million hence affecting the rural electrification project in Luwero district are in police custody.

The suspects are Brian Mwesigwa, 24 and John Ogweta, 20, both residents of Kasana in Luwero Town Council. Last year, the Rural Electrification Agency, (REA) contracted Larsen and Toubro Construction Company Ltd to extend power to Butuntumula, Kamira, Ziroobwe, Luwero and Kikyuusa sub-counties in Luwero district.

David Kamugisha, the project administrator reveals that they embarked on the two-year project in September last year. He explains that despite starting the project late, they expected to complete the works by December 2021. He, however, says that the theft of power cables is threatening their target.

He explains that the works were moving on well with the smooth erection of power transmission lines until July this year when vandals started stealing the power cables. According to Kamugisha, vandals have been removing the cables, which has affected the project. He says that they lost cables covering 4 kilometers valued at Shillings 25m, which prompted them to engage the police.

Following the complaint from the contractors, Police threw dragnets to arrest the culprits. On Monday night, police intensified patrols after Brian Mwesigwa and John Ogweta red-handed vandalized the cables.

The Luwero District Police Commander-DPC SP Felix Mugizi says that they intercepted the suspected vandals around 11 pm in Kasiiso village in Butuntumula Sub-County.

According to Mugizi, to evade police arrest, the vandals jumped onto their motorcycles and sped off prompting police to block the road linking Kasiiso to Kasana and Kikyuusa to Kasana, where they intercepted the vandals.

Last week, police arrested a 17-year-old boy and man for allegedly vandalizing water meters in Luwero district thus hampering water supply by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation-NWSC to their taps.

The teenager, who was found in possession of three water meters that he had packed in the bag confessed to the theft. He revealed to the police that after stealing the water meters he takes them to James Lubwama, a scrap dealer in exchange for cash.


Reader's opinions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *



Current track

Title

Artist