Ugandan police are looking into an incident in which a group of unidentified criminals broke into a church, destroyed the priest's robes, and stole unknown amounts of property, including Ksh. 633,007 and Ush. 15 million.
The theft happened last week at Our Lady of Assumption Mwereerwe Catholic Parish in Kyambizzi village, Gombe sub-county, according to police reports.
No windows or doors were broken during the incident, according to Parish Priest Rev. Fr. James Matovu, who filed the report at Wakiso District. The sacristans were only aware of the theft during a routine mass preparation.
He suggested that the thugs might have used master keys for the operation or that there might have been an insider.
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"The way these thieves broke into the church is questionable because there were no broken doors or windows. We believe that maybe there was connivance and one of our workers intentionally left the door open," Fr. Matovu said, as quoted by The Monitor publication.
"Alternatively, thieves might have accessed the church keys or had master keys because even the askari (guard) was around but never detected their presence."
The priest claimed that before breaking into a safe box and taking donations for Radio Maria, the robbers had first succeeded in breaking into the public address system control box and taking an amplifier, four microphones, and one microphone receiver.
"The box had not been opened for one full year and they forced it open and took away an unknown amount of money," he said.
In addition, the burglars stole the offertory money received during the Christmas season and destroyed the priest's robes and a keyboard made in Japan.
"They went back to the Sacristy and cut into threads some of the vestments for the priests and left them on the floor," the priest noted.
Detectives responded to the report filed at the Gombe Police Station. After arriving on the scene with sniffer dogs, they were able to locate one of the neighborhood bars approximately 300 meters away.
Four men who had entered the bar the night before are now thought to be the main suspects in the theft, according to information obtained by the officers during a brief search and information from the bar owner.
After being taken into custody with another individual, the bar owner was later freed on bond.
A probe is in progress, according to Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigire, who also stated that the suspects' fingerprints and DNA were taken.
The church is currently seeking Ush. Nineteen million (Ksh. 801,808) to purchase new equipment and set up CCTV cameras throughout the building.
