Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican police have arrested two people on suspicion of involvement in a kidnapping in 2022, which resulted in the death of the victim, whose body was found in Maputo in February of this year, a corporation source told Lusa on Saturday.
The two men, aged 34 and 38, were arrested in Gaza province on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping of a businessman of Pakistani nationality in Maputo in October 2022, spokesperson for the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) Hilário Lole said.
“We came across these two men when we were looking for information about the person who ordered the kidnapping, who is in South Africa. One [of the suspects] was found at the residence of the person who ordered the kidnapping, with a pistol and two magazines,” the Sernic spokesperson said.
According to the police, the body of the 54-year-old businessman was found buried at a residence in the Liberdade neighbourhood on the outskirts of Maputo, that also served as his place of captivity.
“The coroner’s report indicates that the body had been buried for at least a year, which means that the businessman was killed in 2023,” Lole added.
The Mozambican police (PRM) have recorded a total of 185 cases of kidnapping since 2011, and at least 288 people have been detained on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime, Minister of the Interior Pascoal Ronda announced in March.
“The city of Maputo has the highest trend and incidence of criminal cases of kidnapping, followed by the province of Maputo and, finally, Sofala, with a record of 103, 41 and 18 cases, respectively,” Minister Ronda detailed on March 19th.
The wave of kidnappings in Mozambique has affected mainly businesspeople and their families, especially people of Asian descent, which the authorities believe requires special reflection.
On Tuesday, the British government warned Britons visiting Mozambique of the risk of kidnapping, particularly in Maputo, following several recent cases.
In an update to the travel advice website, the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that “there have been kidnappings for ransom reported in Mozambique, mainly in the capital, Maputo”.
The majority of kidnappings committed in Mozambique are masterminded outside the country, which makes combating this type of crime difficult, the Attorney General of the Republic, Beatriz Buchili, said in parliament in April.
The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, admitted that combating the kidnappings that plague the country, especially of businesspeople and particularly in Maputo, requires more “proactivity”, in the form of collaboration with the private sector and other countries.
“We are doing work with countries that have a lot of experience in this regard,” President Nyusi said on May 15.
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