By Yiep Joseph
At least 623 suspected gang members commonly known as niggers, have been arrested in crackdown police on criminal elements in Juba city.
According to a statement from Central Equatoria state deputy governor, Paulino Lokudu the huge number of suspected gangsters were arrested, on Tuesday.
“Gangs Crackdown Report: 623 niggers arrested in Juba from 4SG Slime, West Coast, ODA, Killers Gangs, Black Devils, and others,” Lokudu said.
This new statistic adds to the already arrested gangsters suspected to have been engaging in criminal activities in Central Equatoria and Juba City in particular.
Efforts to reach Police Spokesperson Maj. Gen. James Monday Enoka to confirm the incident were not successful.
The crackdown follows multiple reports of a horrific incident involving the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in the Gumbo-Sherikat suburb.
It comes after a graphic video of the assault, which allegedly involved around six to eight suspects, surfaced online, sparking widespread outrage and calls for justice.
Addressing the media after security meeting on Tuesday, Central Equatoria State Minister of Local Government and law Enforcement Agency, Leon Abe Brown, said the crack down continues.
He condemned criminal acts perpetrated by the gang members, saying the young people harm their own relatives.
Appealing to partners, the minister said the arrested suspects needed to under go reformation but the state government lack the ability to establish an institution.
“We are urging our partners to come in with a way forward to transform these young ones. We need to have reformatory schools; we need to have vocational institutes. So that the young ones when are arrested, we transform them to be useful tomorrow,” the minister noted.
Activists and officials, including the Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, have condemned the act and have pushed for stronger laws and enforcement to combat gender-based violence.
South Sudan’s Minister of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare condemned a horrific sexual assault perpetrated against a young lady in Gumbo-Sherikat.
Aya Benjamin Libo Warille expressed disappointment and urged security forces to ensure the culprits of Thursday’s incident are punished.
A disturbing footage on Thursday, appeared on social media, showing a girl being forced into sexual acts Sherikat neighbourhood by a group of youth who recorded the incident.