Police in Kamuli district has busted a mounting criminal gang of 22 youths trading in fake dollar currency.
The gang that is code-named “money bags crew,” has been stationed in Nawanyago town council in Kamuli district where they trick naive sugarcane farmers into exchanging their hard-earned money for fake dollars.
The racket of jobless youth has widened its illegal network to the neighboring districts of Jinja and Luuka targeting mainly illiterate farmers.
The Kamuli district police commander, Ahmed Madiri says the thugs operate by convincing these farmers to save their money at home in dollars for safety purposes because thieves only target shillings.
He says the same gang is involved in theft, targeting locals as they stage illegal roadblocks and terrorize them with machetes before forcefully grabbing their valuables.
Police have recorded statements from multiple locals of theft ranging in millions of shillings and fake dollar transactions.
Madiri says that they have dispatched detectives to hunt down other suspects who are still at large.
