Pastor: I stole cars,
sold them in
Kampala, Uganda
A Pastor yesterday confessed to stealing cars and selling them in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pastor Godfrey Kizito of Kawuku Miracle Centre, Wakiso District is a member of a racket that was busted by police yesterday.
The Police’s Rapid Response Unit (RRU) described Mr Kizito as the coordinator of several car thefts in the country. Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said yesterday at RRU headquarters in Kireka that Mr Kizito, who has been operating in DRC, was establishing another church in South Sudan.
Pastor Kizito was arrested with his brother Henry Kizito after they allegedly stole an Isuzu tipper, registration number UAL 071E, in Nansana, a Kampala suburb, on December 27, 2008. “They made duplicates of the car keys after the owner left them in a parking lot at Nansana. Later, they came back and deceived the guards that the owner had told them to pick the vehicle,” Ms Nabakooba said. She added that Police intercepted them at Atiak as they were driving towards DR Congo to sell it to a Congolese national for $7,000.
RRU deputy head Asuman Mugenyi said Pastor Kizito often steals vehicles in Uganda and sells them in DR Congo. Pastor Kizito, 37, told police that he has been stealing cars for 15 years. He estimated that he had stolen at least 30 cars over that period. “Afande, you are the one who can remember the vehicles I have stolen because you keep records about me. How many cars do think I have stolen?” Pastor Kizito asked Mr Mugenyi.
Pastor Kizito said he has been selling cars, oil and spare parts in DR Congo but advised people not steal. “If you want to get saved, go to Kawuku Miracle Centre and pray to God to give you capital and do business instead of stealing,” he advised.
Commenting on their arrest, Mr Mugyenyi said, “We have arrested him several times, taken him to court but when he is released, he just continues with his crimes. In fact, so many car robbers whom we arrest say they are linked to him.” He added, “He has a DRC soldier called Colonel Masudi in Aru who gives him protection there. Some time back, some of our informers were arrested there but released after Uganda intervened,” he said. “So if you follow him, you get problems.”
RRU has established an office at Koboko in West Nile to help repatriate vehicles that are taken to DRC and South Sudan. This is done under goodwill arrangement since there is no repatriation treaty among the three countries. Police said when the cars are stolen they are taken to houses well known to robbers as “fridges” where number plates and logbooks are changed.
Recently, city businesswoman Proscovia Nabbosa lost her pick up vehicle, Reg. No. UAK 507G, at gunpoint in Matugga, Wakiso District. The car was seen in DR Congo but the Ugandan informer who followed it was arrested and detained by security officials there. The police crime report for 2007 indicates that at least 620 motor vehicles were stolen, 27 of them robbed directly from the owners.
In an incident, RRU arrested two suspects and recovered a vehicle Reg. No. UAJ 205K, a Fuso lorry in Bundibugyo District on December 30, 2008. The suspects, Mr John Mubiru Nsubuga and Mr Misaki Bwambale, were allegedly intending to sell it in DRC.
Ms Nabakooba said the suspects approached a driver at Kabalagala claiming they wanted him to transport the body of their relative from Mityana.
On the way, they bought the driver a drink in which they mixed sedatives, which knocked him down, and they abandoned him there. They were later arrested in Bundibugyo District along Uganda-DRC border.
In the late 1990’s, when the UPDF pursued rebels of the Allied Democratic Front into DR Congo, many Ugandan security personnel were implicated in smuggling into that country stolen four wheel vehicles. Some were impounded and returned but many were not seen after.
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