Authorities in Aweil East County of Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State said they are holding and investigating eight people accused of the murder of a man, Mawein Majok Yel, which occurred in the Lou areas last week.

The arrests were made after the deceased was found dead on 16th January and the police arrested the eight suspects after it was revealed that they had been involved in a fight with the deceased before he died.

“We found out that someone was killed, but we did not know the people who killed him. Now we caught the people and they are now in prison. The suspected people are about eight now. The deceased was Mawein Majok Yel and he died in the area of Lou. The suspects were caught one by one, not all of them at once,’’ Abraham Wiik Awan, the executive director of Aweil East County said.

Aweil East Police inspector, Lt. Colonel Deng Chier, said the suspects were arrested after the police carried out thorough investigations and they were found to be responsible for the crime because they fought with the deceased and killed him. 

“The investigations are going on smoothly and there is no problem. What remains is the final verdict and everything is in front of the judge. Of course, the connection of these suspects with him (deceased) was that this person went to their house while he was drunk and after that, an old man in that house called the youth and told them to watch this person. After the deceased left the house, they followed and fought him in the garden,’’ Col. Deng said.

A source from the area who preferred anonymity because of security reasons said the arrest was illegal because there is no concrete evidence implicating the arrested suspects.

“I belong to that area but I don’t know who killed that person. I am not quite sure. Those who have been arrested were accused just because they used the same road with the dead man while going home. They found the dead body on the road in the morning. There is a little evidence,” the source said.