Police kill two, injured others as Northern hit by robberies

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
POLICE shot dead two robbers and believe they have also injured three others as they were kept busy by three robberies in Northern between Tuesday and Wednesday.
At press time, police were still hunting for the injured robbers who fled into surrounding settlements.
Northern commander Sr Insp Daniel Yangen said the shops hit were City Pharmacy, Popondetta Stationery and a Chinese-owned shop in the Popondetta main market.
In the first robbery, five men armed with a Sig pistol, two homemade firearms and knives raided the City Pharmacy as it opened for business at about 9am on Tuesday.
“The robbers fled with cash and valuables totalling K24,700,” Sr Insp Yangen said.
“But we have identified all the five robbers who were captured in action by a closed circuit TV camera.
“Of the five, three are related to public servants in the provincial public service.”
As police were still in the midst of investigations, several men raided the Popondetta Stationary about 100m from the Popondetta police station at 2pm and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and valuables. However, the robbers could not make a clean getaway when they ran into a group of policemen on crime-prevention patrol.
The policemen gave chase and the robbers fired at them. The policemen returned fire, killing two of them and injuring the three who escaped into the nearby settlements.
On Wednesday morning, police believed the same five who robbed City Pharmacy raided the shop in the Popondetta main market and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes.
Sr Insp Yangen appealed to the public who had information on the whereabouts of robbers to tip off the police to initiate arrests.
“We will not give away your details and all information will be treated with confidentiality,” he said, adding that the manhunt for the robbers was in progress.