![Members of South Sudan National Security and police services drive on pickup trucks while patrolling the streets of Juba, South Sudan on April 9, 2020. [Photo via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/gettyimages-1209566939-1024x1024-1.jpg?ssl=1)
This comes after the police was deployed to wage a crackdown on gang criminals who occasionally stir public mayhem during holidays.
The Mayor of Juba City Council Michael Lado Allah-Jabu said gang criminals around Juba were forcefully recruiting youths to indulge into criminal activities.
“They are forcing other children in the area to join them. If you don’t want to join them then they will chop you. They are pretending to be pupils but they are doing criminal acts and they are recruiting some of their age mates by force,” he said.
The Mayor said most of the gangsters were arrested from Lologo, a lower suburb in Juba City.
“Most gang members who were arrested have been apprehended in Lologo 1 and 2, where they converge. We promise continuity to trace and bring gang members to book in a legal way,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, said young people were taking part in criminal activities due to lack of jobs to keep them busy.
“Some of the youths are redundant and idle because their families are not able to get any opportunity for livelihood, hence joining the bad groups,” he said.
Yakani criticized the move by the city council authorities saying arresting the criminals was not a sustainable solution to end their activities within the city.
“Juba City could invest in the youth. Arresting them is not a solution the solution is for us to see a way to make them turn away from their gang activities,” he said.
Gang criminals have presence across low suburbs and residential areas in the capital of Juba. The groups are also terrorizing citizens at the outskirts of Juba, including Gumbo and Sherikat.
