Barricade tape for crime scene (Courtesy)

A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer was beaten and stripped of his belongings by armed bandits in Yambio County of Western Equatoria State on Monday, police said.

Police Commissioner Major General Albinio Mariano Otto said the officer was waylaid at around 7 PM on his way from Ibba to Yambio County to attend a training on elections.

General Otto said the officer was ambushed and beaten in Bazungua area by eight armed criminals, who looted his motorcycle and properties.

The security official said the perpetrators are a group of convicted felons who broke out of prison and are living in the bushes of the state.

“A CID officer deployed in Ibba County was coming to Yambio yesterday to attend a training on Elections in Yambio. When he reached Bazungua, he fell into ambush of eight armed criminals,” General Otto narrated to Eye Radio.

“The officer was beaten in the bush, his money, clothes and motorcycle were taken and then he was asked to go and inform the government that the criminals are in those areas.”

He added that the police officer is currently receiving treatment for head injury after being hit with the butt of a gun by the criminals.

– Manhunt for bandits –

The assault on the CID officer happened days after the state police launched an investigation into a series of banditry attacks that resulted in lootings and injuries in Yambio County and other areas.

General Otto told Eye Radio on March 5, that the bandits are engaged in nighttime lootings, ambushes and other forms of attacks that have left at least one person nursing a bullet wound.

According to him, the state police managed to arrest 8 other people among the felons who escaped from jail.

The police commissioner said the assailants hide along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo during the day and attack Yambio residents at night.

According to him, the criminals are armed with AK-47 rifles and other weapons making it harder for police to apprehend them.

He urges Yambio residents to report any criminal incident to the nearby police, while appealing again to the DRC government to cooperate with the state in arresting the bandits.