Police in Kyotera are on a manhunt for Hannington Katongole, a UPDF soldier who deserted the army and has been robbing and killing people in Kalisizo town council, Kyotera district.

Katongole has been working with four other suspects in a gang that has been robbing and killing the rich locals, but their targets were mainly the owners of the coffee factories.

According to preliminary reports, last week Katongole and four other thugs from his gang attacked and robbed Polinali Semanda, an owner of a coffee factory called Zavuga Coffee Factory, at gunpoint in Kaswa village in Kalisizo Town Council, Kyotera district. They robbed him of UGX150 million and fled.

Katongole carried out this robbery with four thugs from his gang, namely Gerald Mwanje, aka Kigere Muzeyi, aged 24 years old, a chapatti maker, and Fred Senteza, a boda boda rider and brother to Mwanje; however, Dodo and Alex Nadimba-a witch doctor, and Katongole are on the run.

According to the police, the suspects were living in Kalisizo town, Kalagala village, and some were riding motorcycles while others were making chapatis.

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In an interview with journalists on September 9, 2024, the locals revealed that Mwanje and Senteza were arrested by the authorities due to a tip from the locals about their fast and luxurious lives that they had started living, which did not equating to their jobs.

The locals added that the suspects had bought new cars and pieces of land, constructing houses at a high speed, and renting for various women houses that had luxurious items, which made the people suspicious of them, and they alerted the police, who started investigating them.

“These thugs have been living high-end lives, and yet the jobs that they were doing cannot make them generate big money to just spend lavishly like they were doing, and this is what gave them away,’’ the locals disclosed.

SP Twaha Kasirye, the Greater Masaka police spokesperson, confirmed the arrests of Mwanje and Sentenza, adding that the search for Kakooza, Nadimba, and Dodo, who are currently on the run, has already started.

Kasirye added that the Kakooza is urgently needed because he deserted the army four years ago after he came back from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISON) and started leading a gang that has been killing and robbing the rich in Kalisizo.

He also revealed that the gun that these suspects were using is still missing; however, they are going to do their best to find it.

’’The authorities went to various rentals of the suspects looking for the gun they have been using to rob and kill people; however, it was not found, and then they proceeded to Nadimba’s shrine, and it was not found still, but after investigations we shall have all the information we need,’’ Kasirye noted.

Kasirye stated that the luxurious things that were found in the suspects’ rental houses were taken by the authorities as exhibits and are at Kalisizo Police Station.

He called upon the locals to provide police with any information on these thugs because they are known in the village and need to face justice.