Africa-Press – Mozambique. A two-month-old baby, stolen last Tuesday (September 7) in the Ndunda neighborhood in Beira city, has been recovered by the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) from a residence in the Manga-Mascarenha area.
According to the PRM spokesperson in Sofala province, Dércio Chacate, after a complaint filed by the baby’s mother, operational teams were deployed, culminating in the recovery of the baby and the arrest of a 31-year-old woman named as I. Pinto.
“She is suspected of committing the crime of fraudulent child abduction. Procedures are already running with a view to holding her criminally accountable,” the spokesperson explained.
Speaking to the media on Thursday (September 9), Chacate added that the National Criminal Investigation Service were searching for the woman’s husband, considered an accomplice in the case.
Doca José, the child’s mother, said that she did not know the suspect who came to meet her about some land for sale.
“I showed her a plot. The next day she wanted to pay and when we were going to get the money from the bank, she asked if she could hold my baby, then disappeared into the crowd inside the Filipe bazar,” she recalled, visibly moved.
The accused acknowledged having stolen the child, but said it was her husband’s idea.
“I had a miscarriage recently, and my husband told me to steal a child and present it to the family as our own. I had to do his will, because I wanted to save my home,” she explained.
