At least 14 people have been detained in Mayom County’s Kueryiek Payam in Unity State on suspicion of raiding cattle from neighboring Warrap State last week.
According to Unity State Governor Riek Bim Top, more suspects are being pursued, and efforts are underway to recover stolen livestock in Mayom County to return them to their rightful owners. He said cattle raids escalate insecurity along the border of Unity and Warrap states and emphasized that disarmament is the key to ending the deadly vice.
“It is very important to conduct disarmament in the country because we have more armed civilians, and the only way we can control armed civilians is to disarm them,” he said. “The suspects have been handed over to the commissioner of Mayom County, and some forces are still looking for the rest who committed those crimes. The stolen cattle are being gathered from wherever we get them.”
For his part, Mayom County Commissioner James Lilley Kuol confirmed the arrest of the 14 suspects to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday.
“14 criminals were detained by the authorities in Mayom County for bringing cattle they raided from Warrap and causing insecurity in Unity and Warrap states,” he stated. “The 14 people were arrested by SSPDF Division 4 Commander Gen. Mathew Puljang, who also collected the cattle raided from Warrap State.”
“The recovered cattle have now been handed to the rightful owners,” Commissioner Lilley added.
He said the suspects were transferred to the headquarters of Mayom on Sunday and will be arraigned in court soon.