English
Kinyarwanda
In a well planned operation, Police have arrested 20 notorious buglers who for long had terrorized some city suburbs with late night theft of electronics.
The suspects were paraded yesterday, September 10, at Kigali Metropolitan Police where police returned some of the recovered items to the owners.
Speaking to journalists after receiving his stolen items, Juan Ignacio Ponelli, the POSITIVO president in Africa, who resides in Kibagabaga said that a week ago, thieves broke into his house stole his television screen and two laptops.
“I reported the case to police who instantly, showed up at my house scanned the area, took finger prints and in few days I received a call from an officer informing me that my items had been recovered,” he said.
He called on the public to always report any stolen item to police. “All that the police will require is description of your stolen items and they will find them. I was very impressed when it came to my case.”
Another victim of the gang of buglers, Christopher Marler, the director of Africa Digital Media Academy also a resident of Kibagabaga, also showed at police to collect his stolen item.
With a lot of excitement Marler requested to address the journalists here he said, “I’ve been robbed twice in a space of two months. After the second robbery, I reported the case to police, with details of the items stolen and their serial numbers; within 24 hours they came back with the thief retrieved all my stolen items.”
He added that; “The thieves broke into my house through the window using cutters and stole a 50 inch flat-panel television and a desktop computer. I am very impressed by the way police swiftly operated to retrieve my items. I am extremely very thankful.”
The suspects all confessed to leading gangs of thieves were paraded at Kigali Metropolitan offices.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Theos Badege, the Commissioner for CID, requested anyone one who may have lost their equipment to come to police with proof of ownership.
“We recently established a special unit that would deal with increasing cases of burglary. The specialized unit that works day and night responding to call about house break-ins, investigated all cases in-depth and apprehended heads of several gangs that had terrorized some neighbourhoods with theft,” said Badege.
He added that,” these gangs are made of those that break in the house, the transporters, and technicians that format computers, and the buyers. These men are accused of theft, formation of an criminal gang and armed robbery since they use some weapons. They risk a jail sentence of up to 20 years.”
Badege advised youth to embark on finding means of making clean money rather than theft.
Among the suspects paraded include Janvier Banabashaka who was arrested with six flat screens and four laptops.
“Normally we break in through the window, picks up a television; there is always a vehicle on the stand by that transports us to the buyer who pays us instantly. It all happens around 02:00am and 03:00am at night,”
In the same network, the financier of the gang is usually the buyer; one of them, Pascal Niyomugabo who had invested Rwf 2 million in purchasing four laptops and six flat screens including four of 42 inches and two of 32 inches.
“Considering the amount I buy these items, definitely they I knew very well that these were stolen item this is why I ask for forgiveness.”
Abdul Umuhoza is an IT expert who formats stolen laptops. He confessed to the crime saying that he knew he was dealing with stolen items.
