Five Eritreans in court over illicit liquor trade in Nimule

(radiotamazuj.org)

About five Eritrean nationals who were arrested in Nimule town of South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State are being arraigned in court for allegedly selling illicit alcohol.

In September 2021, state governor Louis Lobong issued an executive order banning the importation and consumption of certain alcoholic drinks deemed dangerous by the state.  Some of the banned alcoholic drinks include Royal Blue, Boss Gin, Golden Gin, Star Gin and Royal Vodka.

 Major David Khasmiro, the Chief Inspector of Police in Nimule, told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that the five foreign nations are being arraigned in court.

“These people are foreigners from Eritrea but their advocates are South Sudanese. So I don’t know what they are going to defend because the order of the governor is very clear that in this territory certain alcoholic drinks are banned,” he explained.

Max Yousif Khalafalla, the clerk of Nimule town, said: “We are working on the implementation of the order to stop illegal alcoholic drinks and they are about 30 different types.”

He added, “There is a committee I formed to implement the order comprising of organized forces. Also, there are people arrested because they refused to pay the fine written in the order.  Now, all of them came with advocates who asked for the copy of the order and I gave it to them.”