Police in Busoga East on Thursday confirmed the arrest of two spare parts dealers over theft of motorcycles across Iganga district.
The suspects are Arafat Musenze, a spare parts dealer from Lwerera village, in Nawanyingi sub county and 57-year-old Joshua Kuzegera from Bukoyo village, in Bulamagi sub county.
The suspects are currently detained at Iganga central police station, awaiting prosecution.
Police recovered four motorcycles suspected to be stolen and bearing registration numbers; UDL 920P, UEC 298T and UDH 668H. The fourth, Blue motorcycle, had no number plate.
The recovered spare parts include; 22 front shock absorbers, 23 sprocket seats, 13 engine housings, eight air cleaner boxes, seven carburetors and six engine blocks. Also recovered was a number plate – UDR 173Z – and a bag containing four logbooks, all in possession of both suspects.
According to the Busoga East police spokesperson, Michael Kasadha, they received complaints from boda boda riders, who accused the suspects of stealing their motorcycles, before dismantling them into small pieces of apparent scrap materials.
He says that intelligence reports revealed how these pieces are resold as second hand spare parts.
Some complainants accuse the suspects of remodeling motorcycles with different features, unrecognizable to the original owners, which are quietly sold off to other unsuspecting individuals.
The suspects however, denied the allegations against them, arguing that, all the motorcycles in their possession were legally purchased from the original owners and there are purchase agreements to that effect. The suspects say that, they have been dealing in second hand motorcycle spare parts for the past 12 years and have not registered any related complaints since their business is lawful.
They further allege that some of their clients use motorcycles as collateral to access loans from multiple money lenders and when pressured to surrender this security, they fake theft claims.
Kasadha however, says that a general enquiry file has been opened up at Iganga central police station, where all victims have been rallied to officially file their complaints-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
