Police has warned members of the public to avoid picking threatening letters dropped by criminals in their communities since they carry incriminating evidence.
In a statement released on Saturday, Uganda Police Spokesperson Mr Fred Enanga said it has been a habit for members of the public to pick and take these threatening letters to police units or LCs, thereby tampering with evidence that would help in tracking down the perpetrators.
This, he says follows a wave of threats in form of anonymous letters that have been sent to specific individuals and dropped in different areas across the country, some threating the citizens with impending panga attacks while some claim they want a certain number of human heads.
“It’s against this background that we want to share this information to the public that the letters carry evidence on them. So we are asking anyone who comes across those letters not to touch or temper with the crime scene.” Police says in a statement.
Police says, a well preserved crime scene will help provide clues in form of latent fingerprints, DNA, and facilitate use of canine dogs to track down the perperators of anonymous threatening letters.
Upon seeing the letters, Police advised members of the public to always alert the nearest security unit, retreat to a safe place and wait until police or security teams arrive.
“We advise them to alert the security units and wait in a safe place and wait for the police the way we preserve the scene helps us to get the criminals easily because there are clues on fingerprints and DNA” the statement adds.
Police say, initially, the threatening leaflets were being used in districts of Lwengo, Kyotera and Masaka in connection with several murders. However, the force continues to register reports of multiple threatening letters in greater Kampala and some districts like Mityana, Wakiso.
Enanga noted that the letters have no address and the perpetrators “write them in a childish manner with graphic plans of anger attacks aimed at particular communities or individuals.”
“On September 4, 2021, there was an anonymous letter found in Kisalabwire in Masindi Municipality, Masindi District, with names of six people including the LC1 chairperson. Another letter was delivered to the LC chairperson of Seeta in Mukono City with the letter threatening seven members of the community. In Mitooma District, there were five warning letters dropped within this month. On September 8, threatening letters were dropped at the home of Florence Naluba, a primary teacher and a resident of Kamuli District” police stated.
Police however maintain that at this stage, there is no credible information indicating the validity of the threats in the said letters.