By Hou Akot Hou
Police in Northern Bahr El Ghazal are set to crack down on motorbikes and other vehicles using South Sudan People Defense Force (SSPDF) number plates in disguise.
Traffic Officer Deng Dut Achiul said on Thursday that some motorists get these plates, ride recklessly, causing accidents, and never get arrested.
He hinted that it is so worrying that some get the plates in disguise and work against the rules of traffic.
“It is so common that most people get the plates and are not in the line of duty. So we are going to confiscate such motorbikes in the town and will move to the counties to do the same thing”.
Dut noted that most of the people just get the plates through relatives, but they are not in the army.
He stated that the move came as a result of accidents being caused by people with SSPDF plates who are not soldiers.
Garang Akot, a motorist in Aweil town, said that they are happy for the pronouncement made by the traffic police authorities.
“Some of these people with SSPDF plates are not in the army, per se. They just take the plates through their cousins in the army, but they are not soldiers,” he claimed.
He observed that their plates normally don’t have numbers.
“They just have the red plates, and they can’t be identified,” he noted.
However, it remains to be seen how the order will be implemented.