Busia residents were forced to dig a latrine with the hope of rescuing a suspected thief who jumped inside to escape hawk-eyed citizens who caught him en route to committing a crime. 

According to eyewitnesses, the accused was accosted by a resident who shone a torchlight at his gang at around 1 am on Friday, January 12. 

As his group scampered for safety, the thief, oblivious to the fact that the next building was a latrine, hoped and jumped inside to hide the citizen who had by then sounded an alarm. 

It was yet to be clear whether the latrine was faulty as residents could not comprehend how the man fit inside the hole. 

“A torchlight was shown at the three suspects at around 1 am and in the process of escaping, the suspect jumped and fell into the pit latrine," Omondi Ndiki, a local area administrator stated. 

At daybreak, the residents embarked on a rescue operation with the aim of either rescuing the suspect or retrieving his body.

Nonetheless, they were cautious of sinking the toilet to bury the accused underneath. 

Meanwhile, the residents complained of the rising insecurity cases attributed to gangs wreaking havoc in the region.

Busia has also been in the limelight with most criminals accused of seeking refuge in the county after committing crimes across the border. 

Recently a Kenyan driver was suspected of knocking down and killing a Ugandan People’s Defence Forces soldier at the border after customs officials flagged him for transporting contraband. 

Reports alleged that the driver tricked the military man and a customs official into standing in front of his lorry before he reversed and ran over the former. 

The customs official incurred crucial injuries and was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. 

Local police traced and impounded the truck parked at a compound in Busia. They also arrested the owners of the home to aid with the investigations and track the driver who had by then vanished. 

Uganda also sought the aid of Interpol to unravel the driver's location.