The community chief of Kondeko Boma in Yei town Payam identified as Johnson Luate was kidnapped by armed men from his residence last weekend and his whereabouts remain unknown.
Yei Police Chief, Major General, Yoasa Lujang Kamba, told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that the chief was kidnapped at night by a group of unknown armed men from his residence and that the police have launched investigations into the circumstances that led to the kidnapping.
“It was confirmed that a group of the people who came and kidnapped him included his cousin who visited the chief some two days back before kidnapping the chief and at the moment we are carrying out the investigations and what I want to say is that the chiefs are part of the community and we call on the other chiefs in the area and the civilians to provide information to the police and we need to work together because the work of the security and protection involves all of us,” Gen. Lujang said.
Rose Mary, a family member of the abducted chief, said that the kidnappers dragged her sick uncle from his bed at night.
“They came and asked for my uncle and we said he is sleeping. They entered his room, dragged him out, and when the chief cried for help they shotguns and we all ran,” according to Mary. “They took him along and set his mattress on fire and left the area. There were many and we could not know who the armed men were because the incident happened at night hours.”
Mary said the area residents, including her, are living in fear and called on the government to conduct night patrols so such kidnappings do not occur.
Another family member who spoke on condition of anonymity called on the government to investigate and find out the whereabouts of their kidnapped relative.
“This issue of unknown armed men is not good, we don’t know who took our family member Johnson Luate and we call on the government to look into our pleas and suffering by protecting us from this unknown armed men and we also pray that God keeps Luate safe and also hope he returns home safely,” he said.