Ugandan police hunting for socialite who stole $429,000 from South Sudanese man

KAMPALA (AGENCIES) — The criminal investigations directorate (CID) has launched a manhunt for socialite Charles Olim aka Sipapa for allegedly robbing $429,000 (about Shs 1.64 billion) from South Sudanese national identified as Jacob Arok.

The said money was stolen during a robbery at Arok’s home in Bunga, Makindye Division in the wee hours of August 28. The attackers who, according to CID detectives, used chloroform also vanished with four iPhones,  two Apple laptops, a Dell laptop and gold jewellery.

In the aftermath, Arok filed a case of robbery at Kabalagala police division indicating that he did not know when exactly the robbers accessed his house, but his valuables had been taken by the time he woke up. A subsequent search by criminal and cyber teams digitally located the iPhone in Buwate village, in Kira Municipality.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga says that the said home belongs to Sipapa who was not present at the time. When the house was searched, in the presence of Sipapa’s wife Shamirah Nakiyimba, the detectives uncovered some of the items that had been robbed from Arok’s home including money amounting to $70,000.

“During the subsequent investigations, our detectives tracked down an iCloud signal from one of the stolen phones that led them to the location in Kityo close Buwate in Kira division. When we interviewed the occupants, they told us that the house belongs to Olim Charles Sipapa,” said Enanga.

As police searched the home, Sipapa was in his home district Tororo where he was seen distributing money afterwards. Now, the police have arrested four suspects including the wife Nakiyimba.

“So far four suspects are in custody including the wife Nakiyimba Shamirah. Nakiyimba Shamirah had tried to hide the $70,000 in one of the shoes. Then the other items, the iPhones and the gold jewellery we found under her bed. So a serious manhunt for Sipapa who is urgently needed for questioning is ongoing. His last locations were in Nagongera, Soni and Nabuyonga sub-counties in Tororo where he was distributing a lot of money,” added Enanga.

Police have also recovered a Jeep and an Audi vehicle that was being resprayed from white to red colour. It is not the first time Sipapa is falling on the wrong side of the law.

He has previously faced allegations of domestic violence, traffic offences, murder, attacking opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) headquarters and shooting live ammunition through the gate, attempted murder, and robberies among others but somehow the cases against him tend to just fizzle out without any progress.