Police in Nkonge village, Kyampisi sub-county, have arrested three men suspected of being part of a syndicate that steals electricity cables in Mukono District.
The suspects are accused of defrauding the residents by impersonating employees of the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL).
The suspects, identified as Mukisa Vincent, Jime Francis, and Lwangolo Ronald, were arrested in a joint operation by the police and a specialized government task force mandated to combat the theft of electricity wires and infrastructure across the country.
According to police, the trio had been stealing various types of solid electrical cables from the national grid.
They allegedly approached residents, falsely claiming to be authorized UEDCL workers capable of connecting homes to the electricity supply.
It is alleged that they would extort money from unsuspecting residents. It said that they would remove the cables for sale as scrap.
The operatives impounded a motorcycle registration number UEY 565, which the suspects were allegedly using to transport themselves. Other members of the group reportedly fled the scene on a second motorcycle and are still being pursued.
At Nkonge Police Post, authorities displayed some of the items recovered from the suspects, including metal-spiked climbing boots used for scaling electricity poles, bundles of stolen wires and solid cables, as well as electricity meter boxes.
Mugugwa Hussein Ssula, the head of the national task force fighting wire and electricity theft, condemned the suspects’ actions.
“These individuals have been disrupting electricity networks across the region,” Ssula said. “Their activities have caused the electricity company to lose huge sums of money through vandalism and stolen infrastructure. More importantly, they have deprived ordinary Ugandans of a reliable electricity supply. We shall continue to crack down on such syndicates without mercy.”
The three suspects are expected to be arraigned in court soon to face charges of theft, impersonation, and vandalism of critical infrastructure. Police have appealed to the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious individuals claiming to work for electricity companies without proper identification.
This arrest is part of a broader nationwide campaign to stem the rising cases of power infrastructure theft, which continues to undermine Uganda’s efforts to expand reliable electricity access-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com.
