Police in Arua has arrested five people in connection to the disappearance of an ambulance belonging to Arua Regional Referral Hospital.
The Ambulance Toyota Land Cruiser UG 6812 M disappeared from the hospital parking yard on the night of Saturday, March 27th, 2021 but the incident was never reported.
The ambulance was only reported missing on Monday after Arua Resident City Commissioner, Martin Oroch requested for it to transport two enforcement officers attached to Uganda Revenue Authority-URA who were attacked by the mob from Ayivu East to Arua hospital.
It is alleged that the brand-new Ambulance which cost more than 300million was given to Arua Regional Referral Hospital by the Ministry of Health last year for High Way Emergency services and had barely lasted for five months.
Police has since arrested three Security Guards who were on duty on the night of Saturday and Sunday when the ambulance disappeared. They were also charged with neglect of duty and later released when police failed to find proper clues about the disappearance of the ambulance.
However, over the weekend, police arrested five other suspects whose identities have been withheld.
According to Jude Nasucha the Commandant Arua Central Police Station who commanded the arrest, they could not reveal the identities of the suspects for fear of jeopardizing investigations.
However, some sources identified the suspects as Dr. Dennis Ocatre, the head of the Dental Health Department, and two other staff from his department only identified as Alex and Philliam. The other suspects are a security guard and the ambulance driver.
Nasucha says that police took time to investigate and track the suspects before zeroing on the five who have since confessed to the crime.
