An 18-year-old Congolese national, Daii David, was on Tuesday arrested by police in Nimule town in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state for selling dog meat.
Captain Richard Clement, the acting Inspector of Police in Nimule, told radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that the suspect admitted that it is not the first time he killed and sold dog meat in the town.
“On the 29th (last month), someone saw a person butchering a dog and that he has been doing that several times. He was seen under the bridge and someone brought the information to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and we went and arrested him. We asked him why he was doing this and he said he is a businessman doing this work and that there was no one to support him financially. He admitted that he has done this work for a long time without people’s knowledge.” Captain Clement said.
The Eastern Equatoria State CID Director, Colonel Gabriel Guet Koang, confirmed the incident, saying there must be a solution to ensure all animals are slaughtered in specific places to avoid such malpractices.
“I gave orders that he should be brought here to Torit in the headquarters so that we make full investigations, we need to know how many dogs he has killed. How did he open his restaurant? Because earlier I had informed the butchers in Eastern Equatoria in a meeting that they should slaughter goats and cattle in specific places witnessed by a veterinary Doctor and a member of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). So anyone slaughtering the animal must be known and its ownership known, not stolen and must be healthy.” Colonel Koang said.
Colonel Koang said people have not followed this instruction, “because it might not be the first time people are killing dogs for people to buy, I need my people to eat healthy food, not these dogs.”
Daii David, who has lived in Nimule for a year is currently being held at Nimule Police Station.