Thieves steal Sh15 million offertory from church

Police have launched investigations into an incident where thugs broke into a Catholic church and stole an offertory worth Ush15 million in Wakiso District, Uganda.

Other items including priests’ robes were destroyed during the incident at Our Lady of Assumption Mwereerwe Catholic Parish in Kyambizzi village, Gombe sub county.

This was after unknown people broke into the church last week and destroyed priest’s robes before escaping with offertory worth Ush15 million and other church items.

Speaking to the media on January 17, the Parish priest Rev. James Matovu said that they discovered some items and money were missing during the following morning mass for the congregants.

“The way these thieves broke into the church is questionable because there was no broken doors or windows.

“We believe that maybe there was connivance and one of our workers intentionally left the door open. Alternatively, thieves might have accessed church keys or had master keys,” said Father Matovu.

“When they (thieves) entered, they forced open the control box for the public address system where we keep our amplifiers and microphones,” he added.

One amplifier, one amp mixer, four microphones and a microphone receiver were stolen during the incident.

The thugs broke a box where donations are kept at the main church and took all the money.

“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.

He added that the thugs also stole the offertory that was collected over the Christmas season from the church.

However, the incident was reported at the Gombe Police station as police launched investigations immediately to unravel the mystery behind robbery at a church.