FILE PHOTO: Three ringleaders of the strike in Bor are seen outside of a police detention facility. | Courtesy.

The Commissioner of Bor County in Jonglei State said on Wednesday that formerly detained workers alleged to have escaped from police custody, are in hiding.

Last week, the state police said the formerly detained leaders of Workers’ Trade Union and Teachers’ Union escaped from detention with the help of police officers on duty.

David Mayen Deng, Samuel Majier Looch, and Ruben Matiop Mayol were arrested on August 12th for leading protests over the non-payment of civil servants’ arrears in the state.

The civil servants were demanding payment of five months’ salary.

Commissioner Yout Alier told Eye Radio this morning that two of the escapees have reunited with their families and another has fled the country.

“What I can tell the public, I would just want to assure them that the members of the community and members of the state and the citizens of the nation are alive and there is nothing that is terrifying about their whereabouts,” he said.

“Some of them are with their family members and one person stays somewhere outside the country. So, no one should panic whether a family member or a friend, or a concerned citizen.”

In August 21, the state Police Commissioner Major General Elia Costa made similar claim, that said the missing workers escaped from detention with the help of police officers on duty.

Major General Elia Costa, said the union leaders escaped from unnamed police officer who had escorted them to eat in the market.

He also dismissed rumors that the trio had transferred to Juba for further detention.

“They were in the police custody for further investigations, and when the police took them to go and eat outside in the market, from there they disappeared,” Costa said.

The police official said they launched another manhunt to arrest the “fugitive” union workers for escaping from custody.

The police statement prompted mixed reactions from the state civil society and citizens, with some speculating that the police made the announcement to wash their hands over an issue they orchestrated.

A day before the police statement, the wife of one of the protest leaders called on the state government to disclose the whereabouts of her husband and his colleagues.

Nyangong Got Ayuen, wife to Samuel Majier Looch threatened to drag Denay Chagor’s government to court, should it fail to produce her husband in a week’s time.

However, Commissioner Alier told Eye Radio on Wednesday that the government has washed its hands over the issue.

“The government is free out of it now, they are no longer under government custody. And the government is waiting for them to come and let them express themselves through the media,” he said.

Eye Radio could not independently verify either narratives.

On Monday, the Workers’ Trade Union petitioned the state government, the national legislature, and the Ministry of Justice to produce the detained leaders.