The territorial police of Arua Rural district have recovered a firearm following the lynching of two suspected armed thugs by an angry mob.
The incident came after residents of Tilevu Parish, Vurra Subcounty, Arua district, alerted authorities at 9:30 am on Wednesday that two individuals dressed in attire resembling Updf uniforms and carrying an AK-47 rifle had been sighted in their neighborhood.
In response, police officers attached to Vurra swiftly mobilized personnel and sought additional manpower from the Vurra army detachment. Together with an intelligence team, they proceeded to the reported village and established an ambush, which took some time but yielded no success.
Eventually, they withdrew from the area. However, while en route to the police station, a motorcycle was robbed at the same location, and the perpetrators utilized it to escape towards Arivu Subcounty in Arua-Vurra district.
The police, alongside other sister forces, initiated a pursuit of the suspected thugs, leveraging their intelligence network. During the operation, the robbed motorcycle was discovered abandoned due to a lack of fuel.
SP Angucia Josephine, PRO, West Nile Region says that the news of the pursuit spread to the community in Arivu Subcounty, resulting in an enraged response from the locals who ultimately resorted to lynching the suspects.
Upon arrival at the scene, the team of police officers discovered an AK-47 rifle, equipped with a magazine containing three rounds of ammunition. The bodies of the two deceased suspects were transported to the Arua Regional Referral Hospital mortuary for identification and postmortem examinations.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing under the reference number Arua-Vurra SD ref 16/24/05/2023.
The police condemned the act of mob justice.
