A group of youth in Mapel Payam of Jur River County in Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State on Tuesday recovered 17 head of cattle that had earlier been stolen after what they described as a tough operation.
On Monday evening, five armed criminals allegedly from neighboring Tonj County of Warrap State entered the area and drove away 17 head of cattle from a cattle camp.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Joseph Ungom, the youth leader in Mapel, said all the stolen cattle have been recovered and one of the criminals was apprehended and handed over to the police.
He said the armed criminals came to a place called Kol-Atur and stole cattle but were perused by the local youth.
Ungom called on Tonj County authorities to carry out operations at the border areas to contain the movement of criminals and cattle thieves.
“They were five in number and one of them was arrested and he is now held at Mapel police station. These people are coming from Tonj and four of them were armed,” said Ungom.
“Let the authorities in Tonj watch these people who are causing problems between Tonj and Alur because if these people are not monitored, they will create problems for the people,” he added.
Meanwhile, the police in Mapel confirmed the incident and admitted that one of the criminals has been arrested and is being held by Mapel police.
Sergeant Major Lino Edward said the arrested criminal will face investigations on Wednesday.
“One of them has been arrested and was brought to us this (Tuesday) evening. He is under our custody and we are yet to investigate him because he was brought at night, we will investigate him tomorrow morning,” Lino said.
He said a similar incident occurred earlier this year in January when six cows were stolen but later recovered.