The South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) on Monday vowed to end the selling of foreign currencies, especially the U.S. Dollar, on the streets of the capital, Juba.
Last week, a joint operation by the police, National Security Service (NSS), and other organized forces cracked down on black market currency dealers on Juba streets, especially in Juba Town and the Konyokonyo market area. Several individuals who changed money were arrested in the swoop.
Maj. Gen. Daniel Justin Buolo, the police spokesperson, told Radio Tamazuj that the crackdown will continue in all the known trading places and major markets in Juba to bring to an end the sale of dollars on the streets.
He revealed that the operation is being carried out at the behest of the Central Bank to end trading to halt the illegal trading of foreign currency on the streets.
“The first charge is based on the orders on a ban of selling of hard currencies and several people who were involved were arrested but some were released, so the exact number is not with me. So far, they are still going on with the operation and we are targeting the areas of Juba Market, Konyokonyo, Jebel, Custom Market, Gudele, and all the suspected areas,” Gen. Justin said. “Since the cases are still under investigation, we will not talk much about it but what I want to say is that we are still doing the operation on cracking down on the sale of U.S. dollars on the streets.”
“Previously, it used to be a local order from the Juba City Council Mayor and so on but this time all the stakeholders are involved, especially the Central Bank, commercial banks, and the state government, so, this time I think it will be better than before because the instruction was very clear to us as organized forces to implement the order,” he added.
Regarding the security situation during the Easter celebrations, Gen. Justin said it was largely peaceful but that an Eritrean businessman was killed on Monday night in Juba and a Somali trader was also murdered in Bor Town in Jonglei State on Monday during a robbery.
“On Monday we had one incident at night in Gudele 2 where the manager of Oasis Water Company was attacked inside his company premises and shot dead. We went there and took the body for postmortem and we opened a case,” he stated. “We are now investigating and gathering information about the motive behind the incident. Although we have not arrested any suspect, the investigation is still ongoing.”
“Also, in Bor Town, there was a case of robbery where one Somali national was killed and some money, the exact amount was not yet ascertained, was looted, however, generally, the Easter was very quiet and peaceful,” Gen. Justin said.