SP Asea Collins, acting Police PRO West Nile. Photo by Godwin Abedican.

By Godwin Abedican

Arua City

The Independence Day celebrations did not go on well for a family in Oluodri cell, Ongbokolo ward, Ayivu East Division, Arua city after a couple, Denis a dealer in petrol and his wife sustained burn injuries following a fire outbreak.

The fire reportedly began when petrol stored by Denis caught fire as the wife was cooking in the same house, reducing the house and all household items in it to ashes, before catching the next house in the neighborhood also burning it with all the items it contained.

Following the incidence, the police in the region has therefore cautioned the public against dealing in illegal fuel businesses given the dangers and the risks it poses to the community.

West Nile is known for providing a very wide market for smuggled fuel especially from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

While giving his post-Independence Day police report on Thursday October 10, 2024, SP Collins Asea, the acting Police Spokesperson for West Nile says, it is unfortunate that the several warnings about the same has been issued but people do not adhere to them.

“We always tell the public not to put flammables in the house because at the end of the day, it is not safe for them and the neighbors. We have also been discouraging petrol sales. Petrol is flammable and when you just expose it near fire, at the end of the day it can cause a lot of havoc in the community,” SP Asea said.

According to Asea, the celebrations generally went on well across the region which he attributes to the cooperation the community has had with the security agencies towards combating crime

“Our security team in West Nile have been on top of their game. For the last 6 months, we intensified on community policing we carried intelligence led operations and community is also giving us support as far as security is concerned because we always tell them security starts with them and we are secondary. The thing is that we are moving in the right direction with the community,” he said. 

By press time the two were undergoing treatment at Arua regional referral hospital.

The police has however kept the doors open for the community to register and report incidences that might have occurred within the communities during the Independence Day celebrations so as to control future happenings of the same.