Chinese in Uganda ‘under threat’ after spate of armed robberies
- Armed gangs target Chinese who tend to keep large sums of money in their factories
- Country’s president reassured China’s ambassador about security after deploying extra police and soldiers to industrial estates
The gang was armed with guns and machetes for their late-night heist.
It was almost 2am and the target was a soft one: a Chinese-run quarry in Nambi, a Ugandan village about 50km from the country’s capital Kampala.
Inside the quarry compound Chinese managers slept as four local security guards outside kept watch. But the guards were powerless – or unwilling – to stop what was about happen.
“The armed thugs grabbed the guards and tied them up with rope before attacking the building in which the Chinese live,” said Savana Region Police spokesman Paul Kangave of the November 9 robbery. “They took money, computers and other valuables.”
The gang escaped with about 35 million Uganda shillings (US$9,400) after threatening the Chinese workers at gunpoint.
The robbery at the Bangcheng Investments quarry company was not an isolated one. In the last two months, local media have reported almost a dozen attacks on Chinese-owned businesses, mostly in central Uganda, with armed robbers grabbing cash and other valuables.