The authorities of Warrap State’s Tonj East and Tonj North counties on Thursday said they jointly apprehended the five most dangerous armed criminals who have been involved in cattle raids, murders, robberies, and ambushes in the two counties and neighboring states.
Officials said that since July 2025, they have arrested over 50 suspects involved in serious crimes and that security forces are actively pursuing armed elements who have refused to surrender their firearms.
Last year, President Salva Kiir declared a state of emergency and disarmament exercise across Warrap State and Unity State’s Mayom.
Machuei Bith, the Gogrial East County commissioner, told Radio Tamzuj Thursday that his office, working with security personnel, managed to capture the five notorious armed youth on Wednesday in a criminal hot spot area.
“Tonj East County is generally calm and normal because my office and area security forces successfully captured several culprits who were disturbing the peace in the county and in neighboring Tonj East, Tonj North, and Tonj South counties of Warrap State and Rumbek North County of Lakes state,” he said.
Bith said some criminals were taken to Tonj South Military Prison, and the rest are imprisoned in Romic, the headquarters of Tonj East County, and that the security situation is currently normal.
“My office established security roads to ease the movement of passengers, and passengers no longer fear using the road. We have more than 50 criminals in various prisons,” he said. “Yesterday (Thursday), we apprehended five of the most notorious armed criminals, three are from Tonj East, and 2 from Tonj North County. We are going to use legal procedures against them for the purpose of restoring peace, calm, and stability in the area.”
For his part, Tonj North County Commissioner Agany Look confirmed the arrests and said they have peacefully collected 600 illegal weapons from the public so far. He clarified that forceful disarmament has not yet commenced in his jurisdiction.
“There is no insecurity, and road ambushes ceased in both Tonj North and Tonj East counties. People walk freely even at night with no fear because we captured over 50 criminals who were terrorizing the neighboring counties in Greater Tonj,” he said. “We used successful strategies that we do not want to reveal for security reasons; however, on Wednesday, we jointly arrested 5 notorious armed criminals.”