Police in Kiira region has expressed concerns over the increasing
cases of vandalism of electricity transmission masts in Kakira town council, Jinja
district.
Pylons from over eight masts along the Kabembe transmission line have been
vandalized in the past two months.
While speaking to journalists on Monday, the Kiira region police spokesperson,
Abby Ngako says that they conducted an operation early last week where twenty
pieces of abandoned pylons were recovered from Kakira sugarcane plantation.
“Our officers worked on alerts from different stakeholders,
inspected the vandalized masts and conducted an operation where they managed to
recover several pieces of abandoned pylons within the sugarcane plantation,”
Ngako says.
Ngako reveals that intelligence reports indicate that, the pylons are often
dismantled by locals within the community who sell them off cheaply to metal
smelting factories or at times fabricate them to make different objects.
Ngako adds that police has drafted a community policing plan to ensure that, neighbouring
communities are sensitized on the dangers of vandalizing high voltage power
transmission lines.
He further calls upon officials from the Uganda electricity transmission
company limited-UETCL to increase their patrols along the power transmission
lines.
//cue in: “much as police…
Cue out…can make money,”.
Officials from UETCL declined to comment about the matter.
Charles Kabule, the Kakira town council chairperson says that
police should increase security along the transmission lines which will deter
communities from accessing them.
