Citizens must help government in combating crimes
On Thursday, the National Security Service (NSS) Operation Service Division said it had detained 14 people suspected of counterfeiting money and engaging in an armed robbery in Juba.
The suspects were arrested in possession of fake notes totalling $ 93,071000 and SSP 400,000.
The national security also seized other stolen property from the suspects. Some of them included vehicles such as a Noah car, two Premio cars, one VanGuard, three Rakshas and more than six motorcycles.
Among the suspects who were arrested were 12 South Sudanese, one national from Guinea Bissau and a Liberian.
This is the second time that national security has apprehended such a huge number of suspected criminals. In April 2021, at least 33 suspects comprising a South Sudanese, a Ugandan and a Rwandese who were alleged to have been involved in forex bureau and bank robberies in the capital, were arrested.
This clearly shows the great work being done by the authorities in combating crimes in the country. However, the citizens need to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies to ensure that crimes are reduced in society.
In the two offences, you will find that the citizens are involved alongside the foreign nationals in the act and this implies that locals are more cooperative in crimes than fighting vices.
The citizens should live up to their duty and responsibility as required by them in the constitution, including combating crimes in society.
Sometimes you fail to understand why someone could travel from West African countries like Liberia, Nigeria, or Ghana to engage in heinous crimes of armed robberies or money counterfeit.
This means they have found the citizens of this country are so willing to cooperate with them in carrying out the crimes. Like in other countries, you cannot just travel there and start doing strict liability offences such as money laundering or armed robbery, without first studying what kind of people live in the host nation.
Unfortunately, our behaviours have made it easy for foreign criminals to penetrate our society and do all sorts of illegal activities and some of the crimes are being aided by our citizens themselves.
The government needs to empower the local area leaders to ensure that all foreign nationals living in their respective areas are registered.
Also, know what kind of work or business the person is doing in the country. A Liberian man, who was one of the suspects arrested on Thursday, admitted that he accepted to join money laundering because he had nothing to eat.
So, you can imagine such a person who travelled all way from Liberia to come and complain of being jobless. These are people who could not even be having a single legal travel document to support their stay in the country.
The government needs to strengthen its policy in the residential areas. In addition, the residents have to cooperate with the authorities to combat crimes in the country.
