A Mozambican businessman was kidnapped early this Saturday afternoon in the center of Maputo by four armed men, a source from the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) confirmed to Lusa, the first publicly known case this year.
According to the PRM spokesperson in the city of Maputo, Leonel Muchina, the kidnapping took place at around 2 pm, on Avenida Alberto Luthuli, with the 64-year-old merchant, approached while walking on the sidewalk, being “dragged” to a vehicle by the kidnappers.
“We confirm the kidnapping. A Mozambican businessman of Asian origin was intercepted by four individuals, at least two of whom were carrying firearms (…) No shots were fired, the weapons were displayed as a form of intimidation”, added Muchina.
The PRM and the Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) are working on this case based on video surveillance images from that area, Muchina said.
The last previously publicly known case took place on November 25th, when a 39-year-old businessman of Pakistani origin was kidnapped in the city of Matola, Maputo province, southern Mozambique, according to information provided to Lusa, at the time, by Sernic .
On November 22, Sernic announced the arrest of a man suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of two other businessmen in Maputo, one of whom was Portuguese, rescued on the 13th of the same month.
The man, detained in the city of Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo, is suspected of having rented the residence used as a captivity for businessmen and which was allegedly used in other cases of kidnappings that have occurred since 2022.
Around 150 businesspeople have been kidnapped in Mozambique in the last 12 years and a hundred have left the country out of fear, according to figures released in July by the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), which argues that it is time for the government to say “enough is enough”.
Until March 2024, the Mozambican police recorded a total of 185 cases of kidnapping and at least 288 people were detained on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime since 2011, the Minister of the Interior, Pascoal Ronda, previously announced.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
