Grand Kru County Police have arrested three suspects and are on the hunt for the rest who are members of armed gang roaming Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, Rivergee, Maryland and Grand Kru, robbing residents and traders.
Those arrested and placed behind bars are Prince Taylor, John Tamba, and Washington Chea, while a hunt is ongoing for those on the run but are yet to be identified, owing to their robbery spree, said to have been committed against businessmen and women who had traveled to Grand Kru from Maryland.
According to the police, those suspects robbed the business people of their belongings, including huge cash and mobile phones, among other valuables.
They were arrested and placed in custody since last Wednesday, July 26, in Barclayville, awaiting prosecution in court following investigation by the police, who are on the hunt for the rest of the escapees.
The police told the local media in Barclayville that the group ringleader, Prince Taylor, was earlier arrested and placed in custody before for the same reason but was released by a court in Greenville, Sinoe County.
There is a significant threat from petty and violent crime, driven by widespread poverty and limited employment prospects. Civil unrest over socio-economic grievances and political developments occur frequently and bear the potential to quickly escalate into violence.
Liberia’s criminal networks appear to largely consist of young people that are tied by family, ethnic or conflict era links, and play a small, niche and detrimental role in Liberian society.
For the most part, the members of these loose networks are Liberians, although there is some evidence to suggest that foreign individuals are involved as well. Overall, the protracted civil conflict led to the departure of many foreign nationals in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Nevertheless, there are still some African and non-African individuals involved in criminal networks within the country.
The typical operational structure of Liberian groups has its roots in both traditional loosely structured West African criminal networks and structures that have emerged during the civil war.
These gangs, mostly engaging in the distribution of drugs and armed robbery, are active largely in urban areas, but available information suggests they operate to a lesser extent in remote or rural areas as well.
In regards to state-embedded actors, the private sector in Liberia is being subjected to increasing levels of corruption, including bribery demands from senior government officials, which worsen the country’s business environment.
While ubiquitous corruption that permeates state structures also undermines trust in institutions, there is little evidence that the state-embedded actors control criminal markets.
