Commandant of the Anti Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) of Police, Commissioner of Police Elias Kasirabo has said that over 391 civilians and 30 security personnel were killed in clashes with cattle rustlers between July 2021 and June 2023 in Karamoja and the neighbouring districts.
Kasirabo adds that over 40 security operatives from both UPDF and the police sustained injuries during operations and raids by the warriors.
He gave the report today in a press conference at Mt Moroto Regional Police Headquarters.
He said insecurity has been directly or indirectly fueled by the cattle traders prompting commercialized raids.
“Many raided animals have ended up on lorries to unknown destinations making recovery hard. Evidence to implicate suspects becomes hard,” he said.
Kasirabo also blamed the LCI chairpersons for issuing travel permits to traders without doing due diligence which allows them to access markets with stolen animals.
He said out of the 47,000 stolen animals, 37,419 have so far been recovered in counter offensive operations and others in markets while 9581 were never recovered.
