Soldiers from the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) on Wednesday night stormed a police station in the Lologo suburb of Juba City and forcefully freed four of their colleagues who had been detained for possession of narcotic drugs, the police said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the police apprehended and detained four members of the SSPDF with khat (Catha edulis), locally known as mairungi, a stimulant drug.

The deputy spokesperson of the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS), Brigadier General James Dak Karlo, told Radio Tamazuj that police did not exchange fire with the soldiers and that the matter has been reported to state security. 

“The perpetrators are from SSPDF and what happened was that the wrong people came at night and attacked the police station and then took the four perpetrators out of the police cell by force and then they drove away,” Gen. Dak explained. “There was a large quantity of the drugs which was left there at the police station. The good thing is that our people (police) did not exchange fire with them.”

He said the matter had been reported to the relevant authorities and that it was being handled administratively. 

“They were followed and the matter was reported to state security, Tiger, and those of state intelligence. That was yesterday (Wednesday) and they (SSPDF) took their own people,” Gen. Dak added. “They were arrested because of drugs called mairungi and were in the police cell. It has been reported to their unit and also the National Security has been informed and it is being handled administratively.”

However, when contacted, SSPDF spokesperson Gen. Lul Ruai Koang said that he had no information on the issue. 

“I am not aware. All the security updates I have, and I went through all the security updates from 7 November up to yesterday, and no report is reading like that. No, I have not received any information,” Gen. Ruai said.