The killers of social worker Maria Nagirinya and her driver, Ronald Kitayimbwa, were hired hitmen, the Police have said.
According to New Vision, A top Police source told them yesterday that the gang that was involved in Nagirinya’s murder was hired and is believed to part of hardcore criminals known in security circles as B13, largely operating from Nateete, a Kampala suburb.
“They are just thugs who have nothing to lose and thus can do anything,” the source said.
On Sunday night, the operatives raided Nateete and arrested three suspects. A fourth suspect eluded arrest and fled.
Yesterday, the operatives moved back to Nateete with the suspects to conduct a search at the house where they were residing located on the edge of a swampy area a short distance from the Nateete Police Station.
The operatives also visited Bulenga, where the suspect who escaped was believed to be in hiding, but he managed to flee. The Police said they had recovered a Simcard belonging to Kitayimbwa during the search.
According to the security operatives, one of the suspects in custody who allegedly confessed to the crime claimed that the gang was paid sh1.5m to execute the murder and that his share was only sh130,000.
However, it was not revealed who hired the gang and what the motive of the murder was. Nagirinya was kidnapped from her home in Lungujja-Busega, killed and her body dumped along the Mukono- Kayunga road in Mukono district.
Kitayimbwa’s body was also recovered at the same spot. During the weekly Police briefing yesterday, Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said six suspects linked to the murder of Nagirinya and her driver had been arrested.
Addressing journalists at the forensics headquarters in Naguru, Enanga said the suspects in custody include the man captured on CCTV footage (wearing a maroon jacket) driving Nagirinya’s car.
The footage was captured by a CCTV camera in Kinawataka, Nakawa division. According to Police, the suspects at some stage shifted the victims from Nagirinya’s car into another waiting car to avoid being detected by security.
Enanga said the Police will soon give its findings in the investigations, including information about a man that called the Police claiming that the woman, Fortune Ayebare Mugisha, who was picked by security agencies last week, was not involved in the murder of Nagirinya