The South Sudan National Police Service said Monday that they had arrested 44 criminals suspected to have been involved in a robbery and theft of motorcycles in operation in Juba over the last two weeks.
Addressing the media at the Central Equatoria State Police Headquarters, Daniel Justin Buolo, National Police Spokesperson, said the operation came as a result of an investigation formed as cases of motorcycle robbery have been on the rise.
“This was as a result of a committee formed to investigate cases of motorcycle robbery because, for the last two weeks, cases have been on the rise, and some people got killed now; through the committee, we managed to arrest some people, and they went as far as showing us those who were involved,” Justin said.
He revealed that they had registered 117 cases of motorcycles robbed and have so far recovered 34 motorcycles and are still perusing the rest of the people involved while the investigation is going on.
Justin called on the public to cooperate with the organized forces in reporting timely cases of criminal activities in their areas.
“There is a need for the public to cooperate with the organised forces by informing the organized forces in the sectors wherever there is any suspected insecurity situation; reporting timely is essential because it will help us to come in and address the matter very quickly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Majak Akec Malok, Inspector General of the South Sudan National Police Service, said over the last few days, criminal gangs had intensified their activities of stealing motorcycles.
Akec revealed that some foreign nationals are among the 44 arrested criminals but declined to identify their nationalities.
He said they will write to their various embassies through the foreign ministry to have the criminals prosecuted.
Akec called for cooperation between the police and citizens in order to combat robbery within neighbourhoods and also to help the police forces with preliminary information.