By Agency
Traffic police have warned Ugandans against stealing items of road crash victims and subjecting culprits to mob action.
Superintendent of Police, Michael Kananura, the traffic police spokesperson, said many people have made it a business to steal items of victims of road crashes and also clobbering those they accuse of knocking their relatives.
Police said every person should know that stealing from someone injured or killed in a road crash is a serious crime.
Stealing of property such as wallets, money perse and bags has been cited one of the major reasons why more than 500 bodies get buried in public cemeteries every year because they cannot be identified.
Often times, rescuers target wallets, bags and money perse for money yet the same contain the identification documents such as National ID, employment ID or bank cards which could have been used to identify the victims.
At the end, people who steal such items throw the IDs in the bush where they cannot be seen.
Assistant Inspector General of Police- AIGP Moses Byaruhanga, the police director of health services in one of the interviews with the media said people are often taken to the mortuary without any document. Traffic police have revealed that 64 people died in last week’s road crashes while 271 sustained injuries. Among the deceased, 24 were bodaboda riders, 22 were pedestrians, and 11 were passengers on bodabodas.
