Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage has helped police identify and track down suspects behind a Shs 120 million robbery at JBK Plaza in downtown Kampala two weeks ago.
Traders at the building discovered that their shops had been broken into on October 20 and quickly alerted police. However, initial efforts to cordon off the scene and deploy sniffer dogs yielded little, as the crime scene appeared to have been tampered with.
Luck turned when one of the affected shops, located on the ground floor, room G-12, had a hidden CCTV camera that captured the assailants in action. Traders reviewing the footage identified one of the culprits as Bosco Gahungu, a private security guard stationed at the plaza.
The video showed Gahungu working with two other unidentified men. A joint team of detectives and CCTV experts analyzed the footage and used it to trace the other suspects.
On Sunday, the police’s Crime Intelligence Unit arrested two of Gahungu’s alleged accomplices, Samuel Bbosa and Joseph Bani, who later confessed to participating in the robbery.
According to police sources, the suspects revealed that the plan originated with Gahungu, who allegedly provided details about the traders’ routines and the building’s weak security points.
“Gahungu told me that some traders keep large sums of money in their shops. He showed us where to break in without being detected by cameras,” Bbosa reportedly confessed during interrogation.
He added that the group broke into several shops and made off with Shs 33.2 million and $26,600 (about Shs 96 million) in cash. At least 16 shops were broken into that night.
Traders discovered the break-ins at around 7:30 a.m. the next morning when they reported for work. Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, confirmed the arrests of Bbosa and Bani, saying the two are detained at Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) on charges of shopbreaking and theft.
Onyango said detectives have established that this was an inside job and the suspects have confessed to their involvement and are cooperating with investigations. Police are still hunting for Gahungu, believed to be the mastermind behind the operation.
Investigators also suspect that the gang consisted of eight members, including five accomplices who acted as lookouts and getaway coordinators during the heist. Bbosa and Bani are expected to be taken back to the crime scene for a reconstruction exercise to demonstrate how the robbery was executed.
Meanwhile, traders at JBK Plaza have called for tighter security and proper vetting of private guards, saying the incident has left them shaken and financially devastated.
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