Three men, including a wildlife service officer, were last week arrested for allegedly setting fire to Malek Payam headquarters and a school building materials in Gogrial West County of Warrap State, local officials said.

Malek Payam is one of the Payams of the Kuac section in Gogrial West County. It was inaugurated early this year, and the community planned to build a school.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, Gogrial West County Commissioner Victor Wek Koordit said the three suspects were arrested and are now in police custody in Gogrial town.

"The incident happened on 21 May where a wildlife officer and two of his relatives burned down 11 huts of Malek Payam, including offices, stores and 25 bags of cement for building the Malek primary school," he said.

He added, "The arrest happened immediately after the incident, but the process of transferring them to the county headquarters took long until last week when I ordered them to be brought to Gogrial West County headquarters so that they explain as to why they burned down the government building.”

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Gordon Alok Aguek, the county’s acting chief police inspector, confirmed the incident and said investigations are underway.

"These people who committed this crime by burning the Payam headquarters have been arrested. They made their mistake on 21 May, and we sent our forces and we managed to apprehend them, but they are not yet produced to the court because the judiciary is the last authority for a crime committed, so police investigation is still underway," he said.