Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Police Spokesman Lt. Colonel Madut Ngong Aleu said the Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Lt. Colonel Santino Kuaach Angong, was assaulted during an altercation with SSPDF soldiers who were marching to Aweil Town’s freedom square on Tuesday morning.
Gunshots were reported early on Tuesday morning, causing panic in the town, sending shoppers scampering and forcing traders in Aweil Main Market to close their shops.
“What happened today (Tuesday) morning around 7:30 was that the director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Lt. Colonel Santino Kuaach Angong, was driving from his home to the office, and while he was trying to overtake SSPDF soldiers who were marching to Aweil Freedom Square, he was stopped and beaten up straightaway,” Lt. Colonel Ngong explained.
He lauded the efforts of the SSPDF commander, the state police commissioner, and the commanders of other organized forces in containing the situation expeditiously and successfully.
“Insecurity was about to intensify, but the commander of SSPDF’s 3rd Division and the state police commissioner and the heads of other security agencies were all available in the town, and the situation was contained,” he narrated.
According to the police mouthpiece, an SSPDF soldier was also injured during the physical altercation. He confirmed that bullets were discharged during the ensuing melee by angry CID personnel and SSPDF soldiers.
Sources told this publication that an urgent meeting of the state security committee was called, and it resolved that the SSPDF soldiers who attacked the CID boss face administrative measures. An investigation committee comprised of members from the various armed forces was formed to investigate the matter further.
For his part, Aweil Municipal Council Mayor Joseph Yach Deng confirmed that there was a problem between the state CID director and a soldier, but that it was resolved.
“The misunderstanding in the morning was only between two people, and it was settled,” he said.
A reliable local source has leaked confidential information that the tortured police officer was about to be transferred to military detention cells in the Wunyiik SSPDF barracks, but was rescued as state authorities intervened promptly.
“The army, after beating the director of CID, picked him and took him to the freedom square with plans to transfer him to military detention cells in Wunyiik,” he said.