By Jurugo Emmanuel Ogasto
Over forty people were arrested in Jebel Lado payam of Juba County yesterday for reportedly trying to grab land illegally according to the Juba County authorities.
Eng. Charles Joseph Wani, the commissioner of Juba County told No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday that the suspected land grabbers were apprehended by security forces on Friday 1st March 2024 after they were seen destroying a fence build by the local community.
Mr. Wani noted that the forty suspects are all South Sudanese.
“Today (Yesterday) we were able to arrest over 40 people in various capacity, we don’t know were they are coming from,” the commissioner confirmed.
According to him the suspects were transported by bus to settle in the area illegally.
“In our investigation, these people were brought by bus but we don’t know who are behind this,” he continued. “The suspects will be charged and arraigned in court for criminal trespass.”
“The court is ready, these people will be charged and they will face the law accordingly,” Commissioner Wani added.
Meanwhile the security advisor of Central Equatoria State Governor, Angelo Daya said the state government will continue to crack down on the land grabbers in Juba city.
“We will continue to arrest them and we shall not allow insecurity in Juba city,” Angelo stated. “We also want to assure the people who are behind this incident.”
Charles Wani, a boma chief in Jebal Ladu payam said the land grabbers have been disturbing the community of his area for the past two months which led to closer of schools in his area.
“These people are armed and they chased all my community, even children are not studying because of fear of their lives,” Charles said.
He alleged that there must be influential armed groups who collaborate with the criminals to terrorize communities by forcefully taking their land in his Boma.
“These people are armed and they are doing all these things knowing that they have their bosses who will rescue them in any problem,” he said.
The Boma chief applauded the County authorities for their quick action to arrest the suspects in connection to destabilization of the area.
Residents of Juba state have repeatedly complained about land grabbing and recently accused some internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled from their homes due to natural disasters and internal conflicts of land grabbing.