Two suspected UMEME impostors are in police custody in Jinja district for attempting to steal yaka meters from unsuspecting residents. Police also confiscated unspecified number of fake UMEME Identity cards, Solido wires, communication cables, meter boxes and a motorcycle with registration UFN 506E from the suspects.
The suspects, who are currently detained at Buwenge central police station include Erick Kiyaga, 25, and Derrick Obuddi,25. The two suspects were picked up from Bwase zone in Buwenge town council in Jinja district. It is alleged that while Bwase zone, the suspects informed residents that they had been directed to replace their old Yaka meters with new ones.
However, when the residents tasked the suspects to inform the area leadership, they instead handed them their identity cards, which partly cleared tensions among the suspicious residents. But one of the residents told URN on the condition of anonymity that he photographed the suspect’s IDs and share them with UMEME officials, who disowned the suspects and their alleged assignment.
The officials advised the resident to alert the police, which rounded up the suspects in the course of replacing the yaka meters. Hassan Kinosa, the LC III chairperson of Buwenge town council hailed the community members for exhibiting vigilance. He, however, noted that several small-scale business operators within the area thrive on illegal power connections and prefer working with random electricians rather than UMEME officials.
The Kiira regional police spokesperson, James Mubi, says that the available intelligence information indicates that the suspects are part of the bigger racket of UMEME impostors behind the illegal power connections and vandalism. Mubi says that the suspects face two counts of obtaining money through false pretense and robbery of electricity equipment.
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