Africa-Press – Mozambique. A leader of Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) says that the kidnappings that have taken place in the country are planned inside prisons.
“Regarding the fight against the kidnappings devastating the country, SERNIC has concluded that most criminal actions are planned from prisons,” said Benjamina Chaves, provincial director of Sofala, in the centre of the country.
The mentors of kidnappings in the province “are prisoners who have been in prison for a long time”, she said.
The statements, released today by localmedia, were made on Saturday, on the occasion of SERNIC’s fifth anniversary.
In 2021, Chaves said, the corporation thwarted three kidnapping attempts masterminded by inmates, detained 13 suspects and seized three firearms used to intimidate victims, most of whom were businesspeople.
The most recent case took place on December 23, when SERNIC in Sofala detected preparations for a kidnapping and arrested some of those involved, most of them repeat offenders who had been released just three months earlier.
After a period of relative calm, Mozambican cities, especially the country’s capital, have since 2020 again been hit by a wave of kidnappings, mainly targeting businesspeople or their families.
In November, 2021, the Police of the Republic of Mozambique launched a mixed force dedicated to responding to this type of crime. The group of officers will receive training by Rwandan specialists until April of this year.
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