Criminals using taxis to rob passengers especially women - Police

"The taxis gangs, have been identified along sections that feed into the Kampala Northern bypass, from Busega to Namboole. Unsuspecting passengers board the taxis, after seeing other occupants in the taxi yet these are criminals disguised as passengers. The victims are attacked as the taxi starts moving and force to surrender their cash, mobile phones, ATM cards, reveal their pin code numbers and other valuables," says Police Spokesman, Fred Enanga.

Enanga added, "The danger with this criminal behaviour is that after robbing the victim, they push, throw or bundle them out of the moving taxi, onto the tarmac or side of the road. We do strongly condemn these acts of impunity by taxi gangs."

The joint task teams from Kampala Metropolitan Police, are already gathering intelligence and good clues about the criminals, taxi gangs, that are hiring female accomplices to disguise as passengers and also using fake number plates that they paste over the real number plates in time for the robbery and remove them after every mission.

"As the operations continue, we wish to give a few safety tips to passengers especially women, as they plan their travel using taxi. Remember victims have been raped, robbed, and seriously injured after boarding taxis operated by taxi gangs," Enanga says.

Police advises the public to take extra precaution like always checking the number plates to see if they are well fixed and appear genuine and to ensure to board taxis from a gazetted stage.