By Mike Rwothomio
OBONGI
Two armed men ambushed a woman returning home on the evening of 31 August 2026, robbed her of more than Shs700,000 and a mobile phone, then reportedly raped her in a nearby maize garden, police have confirmed.
North West Nile Regional Police Spokesperson, SP Collins Asea said the attack occurred at about 7:20PM as the victim was walking from Konyokonyo Center.
Asea said the suspects, armed with SMG rifles, seized her handbag containing Shs98,000 and her Infinix phone and forced her to disclose her mobile-money PIN and transferred Shs700,000 to an unknown MTN number.
The assailants then marched the victim about 100 metres off the road into a maize garden, where they assaulted and raped her.
He said afterwards, they damaged her phone and discarded it roughly 20 metres from the scene before fleeing.
A case of armed robbery and rape was registered at Morobi Police Post under SD 02/01/09/2026 (Obongi CRB 201/2026).
Officers from Morobi and Itula police stations responded promptly and recovered items that included the damaged phone, a small brown bag and a spent cartridge, which has been sent for forensic analysis.
Police established that the same group of six suspects, operating in three teams and on foot, had robbed several other people in the Morobi area the previous evening.
The suspected gangbangers were also armed with a hammer, a stick and a knife.
Investigations are continuing, with focus on tracing the suspects and recovering the firearms.
According to the Uganda Police Force Annual Crime Report 2025, robbery remained a significant violent crime in Uganda, with aggravated robbery cases increasing by 6.7% compared to 2024.
The report shows that 2,101 aggravated robbery cases were recorded in 2025, up from 1,968 cases in 2024.
Robberies involving firearms increased sharply, with 352 cases reported in 2025 compared to 193 in 2024. Meanwhile, robberies involving other weapons declined slightly from 1,775 cases in 2024 to 1,749 cases in 2025.
The West Nile region recorded 184 robbery cases.
The report also recorded 786 aggravated robbery cases involving cash, compared to 573 cases in 2024, representing a 37.2% increase. Of these, 200 cases were taken to court, 72 were not proceeded with, while 514 remained under investigation.
Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) recorded the highest number of robbery cases. KMP North registered 1,007 cases, followed by KMP South with 779 and KMP East with 669. Other regions with high figures included Rwizi (567), North Kyoga (429), Wamala (314), Albertine South (277), Masaka East (260), Kigezi (259) and Rwenzori West (254).
